Houthis rule out role in alleged attack on oil tanker in Bab el-Mandeb

Yemen’s Houthis have dismissed any role in an alleged recent attack on an oil tanker off Yemen’s coast, describing the incident as a US plot to make the region insecure.

Saudi Arabia which is waging a deadly war on Yemen said on Thursday that a boat had fired three rocket-propelled grenades at the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker while the vessel was passing through the Bab el-Mandeb into the Red Sea on Wednesday.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Thursday, the kingdom said none of the crew was hurt in the attack and the tanker managed to sail on into the Red Sea.

Riyadh was investigating the attack, the statement read, as it accused Yemen’s Houthi fighters of threatening maritime security.

The incident took place near Perim also called Mayyun, a volcanic island in the Bab el-Mandeb that has been controlled by Saudi forces since 2015.

Ansarullah spokesman Muhammad Ali al-Houthi said the Yemeni army and allied Houthi fighters had no role in Wednesday’s alleged attack.