NYN | News
The European Union’s “Aspides” military mission confirmed on Wednesday that U.S. claims of an oil spill from the Greek tanker “Sounion,” targeted by Sana’a Government forces in the Red Sea, are false, noting that the fire on board has continued for the fifth consecutive day.
In a statement published on the “X” platform, the European naval mission asserted that “there is no oil spill from the Sounion, which remains anchored in its location and is not drifting.”
The statement added, “The fire has been burning on the ship since August 23, with flames detected in several locations on the main deck.”
The “Aspides” mission also released new photos showing the ongoing blaze in multiple areas of the tanker.
The European statement was a response to remarks made by Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder, who claimed on Tuesday that there was an oil spill from the “Sounion.”
Ryder added that “a third party attempted to send two tugboats to rescue the ship, which is carrying about one million barrels of crude oil, but the Houthis threatened to attack them,” according to his statement.
Earlier, a source in the Sana’a naval forces reported that a European frigate tried to intercept a drone launched towards the ship, prompting Sana’a forces to target the frigate with another drone, forcing it to flee with the ship’s crew, according to a report by the Houthi-affiliated “Al-Masirah” channel.
Sana’a forces reiterated their warning to ships against tampering with identification systems, emphasizing that any ships targeted have all their information known to their naval forces, whether the identification systems are active or not.
They confirmed that ships complying with the ban on entering Israeli ports could navigate safely within Yemeni operational zones.
It is noteworthy that the Sana’a Government forces announced last Thursday that they had targeted the “Sounion” tanker due to the owner company’s violation of the ban on entering occupied Palestinian ports and released footage the following day showing the tanker being set ablaze in the Red Sea.
