The Yemeni Armed Forces announced that it had launched two direct attacks on Israeli ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen’s coast on December 3.
The spokesperson for the Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e, confirmed the operation, stating that it was in response to the demands of the Yemeni people and the “free people of our Arab and Islamic nation, to stand fully with the choices of the Palestinian people and their steadfast resistance.”
Sare’e added that Yemen’s naval forces had carried out an attack on the Unity Explorer and Ship Number 9 vessels, the first with a naval missile and the second with a naval drone. He said that the mission was launched after both ships rejected warnings from the Yemeni Naval Forces. The Unity Explorer has been linked to Dan David Ungar, reportedly the son of Israeli billionaire Abraham Ungar.
Sare’e affirmed that the Yemeni Armed Forces would continue to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red Sea and the Arab Sea “until the Israeli aggression… comes to a halt.”
Following a seven-day ceasefire agreement, Israel intensified its aerial bombardments on Gaza on December 1, killing 700 Palestinians in the besieged Strip in 24 hours.
Addressing the families earlier on Sunday, Sare’e had also announced that the Yemeni Armed Forces would resume “targeting the Zionist occupation with painful and crushing strikes after the enemy entity returns to launch its barbaric aggression against the Gaza Strip.”