Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said on Thursday that all warships should leave the Red Sea, Arab media reported.
A day earlier, British media reported that the country’s Royal Navy was forced to withdraw the warship HMS Diamond from the Red Sea after three ballistic missile attacks launched from Yemen.
The reports did not specify the reasons for the call-up, saying only that HMS Richmond had “temporarily” taken up residence in the Red Sea. They said HMS Diamond would be rearmed before heading back to the Red Sea.
However, footage published by Yemeni media allegedly shows a missile striking HMS Diamond in the Red Sea. Al-Houthi said:
Just as the British warship left the region for overhaul, other warships will be forced to leave the region. All [foreign] warships should leave the Red Sea and stop their attacks on Yemen and their blockade of the country.
The Red Sea attacks have disrupted global shipping, forced firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread to destabilise the wider Middle East.
Yemen has been conducting missile and drone operations against Israeli ships travelling to ports in the occupied territories, as well as British and American warships that have been sent to the Red Sea to counter the Yemeni strikes.
These strikes are intended to put pressure on Israel to end the war against the Gaza Strip, which began on 7 October 2023. So far, more than 27,840 Palestinians, mostly women, children and teenagers, have been killed. More than 80% of Gaza has been reduced to rubble.
