Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday (August 24, 2026) that their forces hit a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea with a ballistic missile, as the Iran -backed rebels pursue a maritime blockade of the kingdom.
“The strike was accurate and direct, resulting in a fire breaking out aboard the vessel and causing a number of other ships that were present in the target area to flee,” the Houthis said in a statement.
The Houthis have hit Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and attacked Yemeni government forces since the latest round of fighting broke out. Yemen, embroiled in more than a decade of civil conflict, in July became the latest country to be dragged into the West Asia war as the Houthis upended a 2022 truce with the country’s Saudi-backed government.
The Houthi claim came hours after a British maritime agency said a tanker struck by an “unknown projectile” caught fire off Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. “The Company Security Officer reported a tanker has been struck by [an] unknown projectile causing a fire to the vessel on the main deck,” said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech also said a Saudi-flagged vessel had been hit by a missile and caught fire.
