Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on two Saudi oil tankers - Al Jazeera

What the report says

Al Jazeera English reported that Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree identified the vessels as the Encelia and Layla and said they were targeted because they allegedly breached a naval blockade the group had declared against Saudi shipping.

Saudi Arabia’s state news agency, SPA, cited an official at the Transport General Authority as saying the Encelia was hit and that its crew was safe; it did not give details about the Layla. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre separately said it had received a report from a tanker master that an unknown projectile struck the vessel and caused a fire that the crew was working to extinguish. Saree claimed missiles and drones were used and said other ships had been forced to turn around.

The reported attacks came two days after the Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, announced a maritime embargo on Saudi vessels. Al Jazeera linked the escalation to renewed violence in Yemen, including a Yemeni government strike on Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport aimed at preventing an Iranian plane from landing. The Houthis have fought Yemen’s internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade.

The development matters because the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait are major energy and trade routes. Al Jazeera noted the strait is only 29km wide at its narrowest and carried about 4.1 billion barrels of crude and refined products in 2024, roughly 5 percent of the global total.