Houthi rebels claim ballistic missile attacks on two Saudi oil tankers

Yemen's Houthi movement said on Wednesday it had attacked two more Saudi oil tankers as part of its continuing blockade of the kingdom, The Hindu reported. Military spokesman Yahya Saree said the tanker Wafa was targeted with a number of ballistic missiles in the northern Red Sea off Yanbu, and later said the tanker Daisy was targeted with a ballistic missile in the Gulf of Aden, putting the total at nine Saudi tankers targeted since the blockade began last month. The Houthis said they would intensify strikes in the northern Red Sea because Saudi Arabia had begun rerouting tankers there, a shift The Hindu linked to Iran's separate blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which left Yanbu as Saudi Arabia's main oil outlet. Saudi authorities had not commented by the time of the report. Maritime tracker Kpler recorded Saudi seaborne crude exports through the Bab al Mandeb strait rising to nearly 100 million barrels in June, up from seven million barrels in February.