Houthi claims on Saudi tankers coincide with Gulf shipping plunge

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in video statements on August 5 that Yemen's Iran-backed rebels had struck two Saudi oil tankers, the Wafa off Yanbu in the northern Red Sea and the Daisy in the Gulf of Aden. He put the total at the eighth and ninth tankers hit since the group's blockade of Saudi Arabia began the previous month, and said the rebels would escalate strikes in the northern Red Sea now that Saudi Arabia was diverting tankers there. Saudi Arabia did not confirm either strike. The Hindu, citing Kpler shipping data, reported that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to two vessels on August 5 from eight a day earlier, against a typical flow of 130 to 140 ships before the war between Iran, the US and Israel began on February 28. Only one vessel crossed the Bab el-Mandeb strait that day, down from twenty. Hormuz crossings from August 3 to 6 totalled 33 vessels, against 50 the previous week, with four crossing on August 6.