Sanaa, August 11, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Three crew members were reportedly killed on Tuesday after Yemen’s Houthi group attacked a commercial vessel travelling through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, according to a pro-government Yemeni media outlet.
Aljoumhouriya TV, affiliated with the pro-government National Resistance Forces, reported that the dead included two Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian crew member. The report did not identify the vessel or specify the weapon used in the attack.
There was no immediate information on the extent of damage to the vessel or the condition of the other crew members. The Houthis have not yet issued a statement on the reported attack.
The incident comes amid a fresh escalation in Houthi attacks targeting commercial shipping in waters off Yemen, along with missile and drone strikes on government-held areas and targets in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
On July 20, the Houthis announced a ban on Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea, citing what they described as a Saudi blockade of areas under their control.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s internationally recognised government has warned that it will respond to continued Houthi attacks, as intensified missile and drone strikes across government-held territory raise concerns over a broader escalation.
Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), said government forces were better prepared to confront the latest escalation and would no longer allow the Houthis to dictate the timing and scope of military confrontations, the government-run Saba news agency reported.
Speaking in Riyadh during a meeting with ambassadors of countries supporting Yemen’s political process, al-Alimi said the government had sought to preserve the relative calm that followed the UN-brokered truce of 2022. However, he said the government would not allow its commitment to peace to be exploited by the Houthis to launch attacks without consequences.
“The state did not initiate this escalation, nor did it seek it,” al-Alimi said, according to Saba.
He said recent attacks demonstrated that the military and political situation had changed, warning that strikes on Marib, Hadramout and the western coast would no longer go without consequences.
His comments followed several days of intensified Houthi attacks against government forces and infrastructure in the oil-rich provinces of Marib, Hadramout and Shabwa, as well as the western coastal city of Mocha.
Yemen has remained embroiled in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized large parts of the north, including the capital Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
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