The Houthi armed group in Yemen attacked two commercial cargo vessels in the Red Sea between July 6 and 9, 2025, violations of the laws of war amounting to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

The US imposed sanctions on what it said was a Houthi-linked petroleum smuggling and sanctions evasion network across Yemen and the UAE in fresh action targeting the Iran-backed militant group.

The Houthis targeted the ships alleging they belonged to Israeli companies, but HRW said the ships had no connection to ...