Houthis Target Israeli-Owned Tanker As Retaliation For Slain Prime Minister

In apparent retaliation for massive Israeli strikes which killed the Yemeni Houthi prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi, last week – who was the most senior Houthi official to have been slain in the ongoing conflict thus far, among other high ranking officials and commanders – the Houthi military has claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a tanker in the Red Sea on Sunday.

The targeted ship is Israeli-owned and Liberian-flagged, named the Scarlet Ray, according to the maritime security company Ambrey. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency, has disputed the claim, saying the missile missed the vessel.

“The crew witnessed a splash in close proximity to their vessel from an unknown projectile and heard a loud bang,” UKMTO said. It further stated that the crew are unharmed and that the ship has continued on its voyage.

On Saturday, the Houthis announced that the prime minister and other senor officials had been assassinated, in large daytime strikes on the capital. Israeli intelligence had reportedly been monitoring a top-level meeting in Sanaa in real-time.

According to a description of the attack in Israeli media:

The Iran-backed Houthi terror group said Monday that it had fired a missile at an Israeli-owned tanker in the Red Sea, days after the prime minister of Yemen’s rebel government and several other ministers were killed in an IDF strike on the capital Sanaa.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the launch in a prerecorded message aired on al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel. He alleged the vessel, the Liberian-flagged Scarlet Ray, had ties to Israel.

The ship’s owners, Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, could not be immediately reached. However, the maritime security firm Ambrey described the ship as fitting the Houthis’ “target profile, as the vessel is publicly Israeli owned.”

The Houthis have by and large respected the months-long US ceasefire declared by President Trump, but have said they will continue to target any Israeli-linked or Israel-bound vessel traversing the Red Sea.

As the US Navy stepped back from regional operations, Washington has pressured the Europeans to step up defense of the vital trade transit waters.

Funeral events were held Monday in Sanaa for the slain prime minster, which saw tens of thousands of Yemenis take to the streets.

UKMTO WARNING 029-25-ATTACK
31 AUG 2025 1730UTChttps://t.co/vMiU6Vsj8c#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/bFgNpOJqSS

— UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) August 31, 2025

One top Houthi official told the crowds, “We are facing the strongest intelligence empire in the world, the one that targeted the government – the whole Zionist entity (comprising) the US administration, the Zionist entity, the Zionist Arabs and the spies inside Yemen.”

High-ranking officials slain in Israeli strike on Thursday, which was confirmed in a Houthi statement Saturday:

VIDEO | Scenes from Sanaa, Yemen, of the funeral of Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmad Ghaleb Rahwi and his fellow ministers.

Israel assassinated the PM and nearly his entire cabinet. pic.twitter.com/ojOL3WzrIA

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) September 1, 2025

The Houthis are an Iran-aligned movement which has shown resiliency, given that for over a half-decade it was bombed by the Saudi-US-UAE coalition, largely to no effect, and now it is in a war with Israel, and has managed to effectively shut down international transit shipping through the Red Sea.