Houthis Announce Targeting of "Pinocchio" in the Red Sea

The Houthi group in Yemen announced in the early hours of Tuesday that it had targeted what it referred to as the "American ship Pinocchio" in the Red Sea. The military spokesperson for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, stated that the group's attacks would escalate during the month of Ramadan "in support of the Gaza Strip." The U.S. Central Command reported that the Houthis launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles from areas they control in Yemen towards the commercial vessel "Pinocchio." They added that the ship is Singaporean and flies the Liberian flag, confirming that there were no reports of material or human losses. Public databases managed by Equasis and the International Maritime Organization indicate that "Pinocchio" is a container ship flying the Liberian flag and owned by a company registered in Singapore. Earlier on Monday, a spokesperson for the internationally recognized Yemeni government told Reuters that at least 11 people had died and 14 were injured after airstrikes attributed to an American-British coalition hit coastal cities and small towns in western Yemen. The United States and Britain are conducting strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, and Washington has reclassified the group as a terrorist organization.