Houthis threaten US aircraft carrier and launch four attacks on ships

Yemen’s Houthi militias have released a video where they threaten to destroy any US aircraft carrier entering the Red Sea. The Houthi threat comes after the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of America’s 11 nuclear-powered “supercarriers” exited the region after an eight month posting.

The Houthis have claimed on several occasions to have struck the 100,000 tonne ship, which has led US and UK air operations against the militia to end their blockade of the Red Sea. The US says such claims are false and that the USS Theodore Roosevelt is travelling from the Pacific region to take over the Eisenhower’s duties.

A Houthi soldier mans a machine gun on an armored personnel carrier while on patrol in Sanaa, Yemen, 24 June 2024. EPA

The group says it is acting in support of Hamas in Gaza, creating pressure on the international community to force Israel to end its war there, where nearly 38,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Critics of the Houthis say they are more concerned with shoring up power and influence in Yemen, where it controls one third of the country.

On Monday, the Houthis also said they conducted four military operations attacking four ships in the Red, Arabian and Mediterranean Seas as well as the Indian Ocean “linked to the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel”.

It is unclear how the group, which has made exaggerated claims in the past, attacked a vessel in the Mediterranean. At 2,000km away from Yemen, it is beyond the capability of the group – which lacks a proper navy or air force – to observe and track vessels.

In the first operation the Houthis said they attacked the “Israeli ship MSC Unific in the Arabian Sea”, Yahya Sarea, the Yemeni group's spokesman said.

“A US oil tanker Delonix” was also attacked in a second operation that was carried out in the Red Sea “for the second time this week”, he added.

The third operation attacked “UK landing ship Anvil Point in the Indian Ocean” and a fourth operation in the Mediterranean Sea attacked a ship that Sarea identified as the “Lucky Sailor”.

There were no reported casualties or damage to any of the vessels.