Cairo, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sana'a: Yemen's Houthi spokesman Yahya Sareya said on Feb. 20 that the group fired several missiles at an Israeli ship sailing in the Gulf of Aden on the same day.
Sareya said the ship was named the Mediterranean Silver, but he did not give other details. Sareya also said that the Houthis launched drone strikes on the Red Sea city of Eilat in southern Israel and several U.S. ships sailing in the Red Sea on the same day.
At the moment, the United States and Israel have not responded to this matter.
The British maritime security company Ambury said on the 20th that the "Mediterranean Silver" is a container ship flying the Liberian flag, and the original destination was a Somali port. The close cooperation between the operators of the MSC Silver and the Israeli shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping***, which often sails to Israeli ports, may be the main reason why the Houthis designate it as an "Israeli vessel".
On the 18th and 19th, the Houthis attacked commercial vessels sailing in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. On the 18th, the Houthis attacked the British freighter "Rubimar" sailing in the Gulf of Aden with missiles, causing serious damage to the ship and forcing the crew to evacuate. On the 19th, the Houthis also claimed to have hit two American cargo ships with missiles.
After the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict last October, the Houthis used drones and missiles to repeatedly attack targets in Red Sea waters. Since January 12 this year, the United States and the United Kingdom have launched successive airstrikes on Houthi targets, killing and injuring many people. Some countries condemned the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom, arguing that they were a violation of Yemen's sovereignty and would exacerbate regional tensions.