News - Middle East: Yemeni military, in another statement on Friday, said it targeted two more container ships – MSC Alanya and MSC Palatium III – in the Red Sea that were headed to the occupied Palestinian territories.

A missile pounded MSC Palatium III, a Liberian-flagged container ship, near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following a similar attack targeting Al Jasrah, owned by the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli-occupied ports from navigating in the (Red Sea) until they bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need,” Yemeni military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a statement.
The spate of attacks by the Yemeni military on vessels in the Rea Sea heading towards occupied territories in recent weeks has already forced many shipping companies to suspend their sailings.
Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, announced on Friday that it had informed all its vessels that planned to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to “pause their journey until further notice.”
Germany-based shipping company Hapag-Lloyd also announced its decision to it stop the traffic of all its container ships through the Red Sea until Monday.
As Yemen intensifies its operations in the strategic part of the Red Sea, the Zionist regime is feeling pain and anxiety as it threatens to hit the occupying regime’s already embattled economy.
A day before, on Thursday, the Yemeni military fired a ballistic missile at a container ship traveling through the strategic strait after it defied warnings issued earlier by the Yemeni military.
On Tuesday, the Yemeni Army struck a Norwegian-flagged commercial tanker with a missile as the vessel was in the Red Sea heading towards an Israeli-occupied port to offload its cargo.
The Yemeni operation on the tanker Strinda took place about 100 kilometers north of the Bab el-Mandab Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Back on December 4, the Yemeni army targeted two ships in the Red Sea as they were attempting to cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and head toward the occupied territories.
Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is only 29 kilometers (18 miles) wide at its narrowest point, is critical for oil and trade as nearly 10 percent of all oil traded at sea passes through it as well as  $1 trillion in goods, according to reports.
Stern Yemeni warnings
In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, Brigadier General Saree said the naval forces of the Yemeni army carried out a military operation against two container ships “MSC Alanya” and "MSC PALATIUM III" while they were en route to the occupied territories.
“The two ships were targeted after their crews rejected to respond to calls from Yemeni naval forces as well as scorching warning signals,” he said, adding that Yemeni armed forces assure safety to all ships heading to all ports across the world, except for those heading to Israeli-occupied ports.
“The Yemeni armed forces will not hesitate to target any ship that violates what was stated in its previous statements,” he wrote, in a clearly-worded warning.
He further said the Yemeni army has “vowed to continue to prevent the navigation of vessels” heading to the occupied territories “until enough food and medicine” is made available to people in Gaza.
In an earlier post on Friday, Brigadier General Saree said the naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces “carried out a military operation against the “Maersk Gebrelater” container ship with a drone.