The Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion that was hit by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and set ablaze for weeks was towed to safety without any oil spill, the European Union naval mission said Monday.
The EU naval mission, Operation Aspides, stated on the social platform X that the ship had been moved.
The Sounion “has been successfully towed to a safe area without any oil spill,” the EU mission said. “While private stakeholders complete the salvage operation, Aspides will continue to monitor the situation.”
The ship reached waters away from Yemen as the Houthis meanwhile claimed that they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone, with a video circulating online showing what appeared to be a surface-to-air missile strike and flaming wreckage strewn across the ground.
While the rebels allowed the Sounion to be moved, they continued to threaten ships moving through the Red Sea, a waterway that once saw $1 trillion in goods move through it a year.
The Houthis had no immediate comment and it wasn’t clear where the vessel was, though it likely was taken north away from Yemen. Salvagers still need to offload some 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard the Sounion, which officials feared could leak into the Red Sea, killing marine life and damaging corals in the waterway.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it was aware of the Houthis’ claimed downing of a drone over the country’s southwestern Dhamar province, without elaborating.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
Houthis target a large number of Greek ships and oil tankers
The Yemen-based Houthis have targeted a large number of Greek ships in the Red Sea since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023.
Figures released by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) show that between December 2023 and September 2024, the Houthis attacked 83 ships. Among these were 24 Greek trading vessels, roughly one in three.
The Sounion oil tanker attack in August was the third in which a vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers came under Houthi attack. The militants said Delta Tankers had violated their ban on “entry to the ports of occupied Palestine,” Reuters reported.
As Greek shipowners with 5,514 ships currently control approximately 21 percent of the global fleet, one in five vessels is Greek-owned. Furthermore, 31.78 percent of the world oil tanker fleet is Greek-owned.
Statistically speaking, it is plausible that retaliatory purposes are not the reason why the Houthis targeted Greek ships—specifically the 24 Greek-owned cargo ships out of the total of 83 ships targeted.
