Oil tanker incident

NCC Ghazal

29 July 2026

Red Sea

What happened

Yemen's Houthis said they fired ballistic missiles at the Saudi-flagged oil tanker NCC Ghazal in the Red Sea. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree accused the vessel of violating the group's declared maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia and ignoring warning calls; the tanker was forced to turn back. The Houthis said they would continue enforcing the blockade as part of a strategy of "siege and escalation."

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.

Vessel / facility
Saudi-flagged oil tanker
Cargo
Not specified in cited reporting
Attack
Ballistic missile attack; tanker turned back
Latitude
16.0000°
Longitude
42.5000°

Attribution

Attributed to Yemen’s Houthis

The incident and the actor assessment are separately sourced below.

Approximate; reported en route through the southern Red Sea/Bab el-Mandeb corridor.

Sources

  1. Houthi group claims missile attack forced Saudi oil tanker to turn back in Red SeaXinhua · Incident confirmation