Yemen’s Houthis have released a video that appears to show their fighters boarding the oil tanker Sounion and detonating explosives on the ship that the group previously attacked in the Red Sea earlier this month.
The footage released on Thursday comes amid international fear of a major oil spill from the Greek-flagged vessel that could cause an environmental catastrophe and pose a risk to navigation in the region. The ship is carrying nearly one million barrels of crude oil.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Thursday that Sounion belonged to a company that had “violated” the blockade announced by the Yemeni group against Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, who present themselves as Yemen’s armed forces, have been targeting what they claim are Israel-linked vessels – an effort that they say aims to pressure the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,600 Palestinians.
The Yemeni group also started attacking ships linked to the United States and United Kingdom after the two countries launched a military campaign in January to end the Houthis’ assaults on shipping lanes in the region.
The video appears to show drone footage of the exterior of the ship and a walkthrough of its cockpit before featuring a fighter holding an automatic weapon on board. It concludes with a series of explosions on the surface of the tanker.
The footage did not show damage to the core of the ship where the oil is stored.
It is not clear when the video was shot or whether it will affect efforts to tow the ship to avert an oil spill. Sunion was first attacked on August 22 and its crew was evacuated the same day.
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