Yemen’s Houthis said Wednesday they struck two more Saudi-linked oil tankers within hours of each other — the tanker Wafa off Yanbu in the northern Red Sea, and the tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden, which military spokesman Yahya Saree said was “forced to turn back.” Cyprus Mail reports there has been no confirmation from Saudi Arabia on either claim, and neither could be independently verified.
The Wafa strike drew scrutiny: maritime intelligence firm Windward, cited by OilPrice.com, said the tanker had gone dark since July 19 and had likely reversed course toward Saudi waters, well outside the Houthis’ declared blockade zone, before being hit. Going dark, the analysts said, “didn’t take this vessel off the targeting picture.”
The maritime campaign runs alongside a land escalation: Houthi forces struck Najran Airport near the Saudi-Yemeni border with a drone on Tuesday, hitting the facility’s radar and suspending flights, Kurdistan24 reported — a strike Saree said was retaliation for Saudi drone flights over Yemen’s Saada and Hajjah provinces. Saudi Arabia has responded with airstrikes on Houthi positions, marking the most serious fighting between the two sides since a 2022 truce.
Analysts warn the two fronts are converging. Yemeni military officials told Reuters that front-line reinforcements between Houthi and Saudi-backed forces now mark the most serious war preparations since the 2022 truce — raising the risk that the maritime campaign against Saudi shipping and the land buildup along the border are no longer separate crises, but a single slide back toward full-scale war.
