Houthis Attack Ship At Oil Terminal In Yemen

The Houthi rebels attacked this week a ship at the al-Dhabba oil terminal in Yemen in the latest attack over the past weeks.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), part of the Royal Navy, said on Monday that it had received a report of a missile or rocket strike on November 21 at a Single Point Mooring while a vessel was loading at Ash Shihr, Yemen. The vessel and crew are safe, UKMTO added.

Panama-flagged oil tanker Pratika was at the terminal to load crude oil, but left after the attack, two workers at the terminal told Reuters.

The Houthis fired a projectile from a drone, and that projectile landed at the entrance of the terminal, the workers said.

On Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, called on the Iran-aligned Houthis to return to the negotiating table in Yemen.

The Ambassador “noted the Houthi attacks on Yemen’s ports would only harm the Yemeni people by worsening fuel shortages and he called on the Houthis to halt their threats to international maritime commerce,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

The Houthis have accelerated attacks, including on oil infrastructure, in recent weeks, after a failed renewal of the ceasefire in Yemen.

The Yemeni war, which has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis in modern times, is widely seen as a proxy war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Last month, the Houthis warned oil companies operating in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to pack up and leave as the warring sides in the Yemeni conflict failed to reach an agreement to extend the six-month truce.

Fighting in Yemen has been ongoing for over seven years now after the Iran-affiliated Houthis overturned the elected president, which prompted Saudi Arabia to wage war on the rebel group. In response, the Houthis have made Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities their preferred target of attacks.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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