Sanaa (South24) 

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Today, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia announced that it had targeted six ships with ballistic missiles and drones within 72 hours.

The military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Sarea, in a statement on X said, "We carried out six military operations during the past 72 hours with a large number of ballistic missiles and drones."

The statement described four targets of the operation as “four American and British ships” naming the two “American” ships as the Maersk Saratoga and the APL Detroit, both in the Red Sea.

بيان القوات المسلحة اليمنية بشأن تدشين العام العاشر من العدوان الأمريكي البريطاني بست عمليات عسكرية ضد أربع سفن أمريكية وبريطانية ومدمرتين أمريكيتين واستهداف أم الرشراش جنوبي فلسطين المحتلة 26-3-2024مpic.twitter.com/ZBA2ltT0iQ

— العميد يحيى سريع (@army21ye) March 26, 2024

The ship-tracking website, VesselFinder, lists the Maersk Saratoga as American-flagged, but the APL Detroit as Singapore-flagged. 

Sarea’s statement also said they targeted the bulk carrier Pretty Lady, which was bound for Israeli ports, though did not indicate where the ship was when it was targeted, or what flag it was sailing under.

According to the MarineTraffic website, the Pretty Lady is a Malta-flagged cargo ship.

The Houthis also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Huang Pu ship in the Red Sea on Saturday. Sarea described it as a British ship, but US Central Command had previously said it was Chinese.

Sarea said that the Houthis had also attacked two American destroyers in the Red Sea, using drones. Dozens of ballistic missiles and drones were also launched at the Israeli city of Eilat, according to the spokesman. 

The statement marked the ninth anniversary of the military intervention of the Arab Coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE against the Houthis on March 26, 2015, at the request of the internationally recognized government.

However, the Houthi military spokesman merely referred to what he described as "entering the tenth year of the US-UK aggression against Yemen" without referring to Saudi Arabia.

In an X post about the anniversary, the Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, said: “We salute with great pride the courageous stance of the brothers in the Coalition to support legitimacy led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE (..), and to prevent the state from falling into the grip of the Iran-supported Imamate project". 

A statement issued today during a meeting of the STC Presidency said: “On the ninth anniversary of Decisive Storm, we renew our thanks to the Coalition countries led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The great sacrifices confronted the danger of the Iranian expansionist project". 

The leader of the Houthis, Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, delivered a speech yesterday in which he acknowledged that his forces had killed and injured about 283,000 people over the past nine years.

"The total human losses of the enemy and mercenaries who were recruited from various countries, a large part of them from our country, amounted to 282,897 dead and wounded," he said.

Al-Houthi also claimed that during the same nine year period, the Houthis had carried out 1,237 missile attacks in Yemen and 589 missile operations outside the borders, while more than 50,000 civilians had been killed by Coalition strikes.