Houthis say they attacked two Saudi tankers; Saudi Arabia says one ablaze in Red Sea

In their statement, the Houthis said they attacked two tankers, the Encelia and Layla, saying the vessels had violated a naval blockade imposed by the Iran-aligned group on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea. The Houthis said they targeted the tankers with a number of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.

A maritime security source said earlier on Thursday that the Encelia had transmitted a distress call via VHF radio, reporting it had been struck by a missile while operating at the outer port limits of Saudi Arabia's Jizan, in the Red Sea, and was on fire.

The British maritime risk-management group Vanguard also said the Saudi-flagged tanker Encelia was struck by an unknown projectile on its starboard side about 70 nautical miles (130 km) southwest of Saudi Arabia's Al Shuqaiq at 2000 GMT.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) also said it had received a report of an incident in the same area, saying the master of a tanker reported being struck by an unknown projectile that caused a fire onboard, which the crew were fighting. UKMTO said no casualties or environmental impact had been reported.