Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis in Yemen, said on Thursday that the group had introduced "submarine weapons" in its attacks on ships.

He added in a speech broadcast on television, “Operations in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden are continuing and we are heading for escalation.”

Al-Houthi said that the group has so far targeted 48 ships in the Arab and Red Bahrain, stressing the continued escalation of operations.

Al-Houthi added in a television speech: “Our operations against Israeli targets amounted to 183 missiles and drones,” noting that “sea operations escalated in quantity and quality, and missiles, drones, and military boats were activated.”

He said: “On the Yemen front, we tended to escalate operations, while the enemy tended to escalate further in the Gaza Strip.”

The Houthis say that they target ships owned or operated by Israeli companies or that transport goods to or from Israel, but in many cases ships that have no connection to Israel have been targeted.

In another context, the Israeli army announced today that air defenses intercepted a target that was on its way towards Israeli territory from the Red Sea region.

For its part, the British Maritime Trade Operations Authority said today that it had received a report of a fire on board a ship 70 nautical miles southeast of Aden, Yemen, after it was attacked by two missiles.