MIDEAST: Houthis Claim To Have Launched Attack On Mediterranean Shipping

Spox for the Houthi rebels in Yemen Gen. Yahya Sare'e has claimed in a statement that the Iran-backed group has launched its latest 'fourth-round' of military operations, targeting six ships that it says "violated the decision to ban access to the ports of occupied Palestine". Of these ships, three were in the Red Sea, two in the Arabian Sea and one supposedly in the Mediterranean. 

• TradeWinds News reports, "The Houthi attack against a Greek-managed bulker in the southern Red Sea on Tuesday was much more tenacious than initially reported. The 82,300-dwt Laax (built 2012) was hit by five missiles rather than the three previously reported. The ship suffered material damage but remains seaworthy, said an official with maritime security firm LSS-SAPU, which is protecting it."
• Last week, Bloomberg reported an unnamed senior defence official statingthat the Houthis have weapons that can reach the Med. The group claimed an attack on the Essex on 24 May, an LPG carrier in the anchorage at Alexandria, Egypt at the time. No monitors such as UKMTA have recorded such an attack. 
• Should the Houthis begin to effectively target shipping in the Med it would further expand the risk area assoiciated with ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. Indeed, Iranian state-linked agencies reported earlier today on Tehran's supposed provision of long-range Ghadr missiles to the Houthis (see 'MIDEAST: Tasnim-Houthis In Possession Of Ghadr Ballistic Missiles', 1114BST).