Yemeni official: All warships will be forced to leave Red Sea

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, made the remarks on Thursday.

A day earlier, British media reports revealed that the country’s Royal Navy had been forced to pull a warship, named as HMS Diamond, out of the Red Sea after coming under three bouts of attacks with ballistic missiles fired from Yemen.

The reports did not specify the reasons for the summoning, only stating that HMS Richmond had “temporarily” taken over in the Red Sea. They said HMS Diamond would be rearmed before heading back into action in the Red Sea.

But footage released by Yemeni media purportedly showed a missile hitting HMS Diamond in the Red Sea, without specifying when the strike took place.

“Just as the British warship has left the region for overhaul, the other warships will likewise [be forced to] leave the region,” al-Houthi said.

“All [foreign] warships must leave the Red Sea, stop their attacks on Yemen, and end their blockade of the country,” he added.

Yemen has been conducting missile and drone operations against Israeli vessels, those heading for the occupied territories’ ports, and the British and American warships that have been dispatched to the Red Sea to confront the Yemeni strikes.

The strikes have been seeking to pressure the Israeli regime into stopping an October 7, 2023-present Washington- and London-backed war against the coastal sliver.

More than 27,840 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and adolescents, have died in the genocidal war so far.