Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi Arabia oil tanker

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing its staff and Reuters, reported on July 28, 2026, that Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had launched ballistic missiles at a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on X that the NCC GHAZAL was targeted because it breached a Houthi-declared ban on Saudi maritime navigation, and claimed the vessel was made to turn back.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a maritime security monitor, said a tanker travelling through the Red Sea reported an explosion. According to the monitor, the crew was safe and no environmental damage had been reported. Al Jazeera’s article did not include an immediate Saudi confirmation of damage to the NCC GHAZAL.

The reported attack follows a Houthi announcement on July 20 of a naval blockade against Saudi vessels. The group accused Saudi Arabia of maintaining a long-running siege on Yemen and framed its own move as retaliation. Al Jazeera also reported that the Houthis claimed a separate July 22 attack on two Saudi oil tankers, Encelia and Layla; Saudi state media said at the time that Encelia had been hit and that its crew was safe.

The incident matters because the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb strait are critical commercial and energy routes linking the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal. Al Jazeera noted the strait is only 29km wide at its narrowest point and carried about 4.1 billion barrels of crude and refined petroleum products in 2024, around 5 percent of the global total. The Houthis have controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 and have fought the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government for more than a decade.