Iranian-backed Houthi militants attacked a Saudi warship off the western coast of the war-torn-country with three suicide boats, causing an explosion that killed two crew members and injured three others. The Iran-allied Houthi group that controls Yemen’s capital claimed responsibility for the attack, the third carried out on ships in the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen, in the last six months. The Saudi-led coalition said the attack on the ship was a serious development that “would impact international navigation and the flow of humanitarian assistance to the port for Yemeni citizens.” An Israeli defense official, who spoke to TV7 on condition of anonymity, said the incident raised concerns as the attack took place in the Red Sea that is a strategic shipping lane called the Bab al-Mandab strait, which sees more than 3.4 million barrels of oil passing through it on a daily basis, and noted that the IDF was closely monitoring the situation.
