Four new Israeli warships have “sailed for the first time to the Red Sea”, the Israeli army has said in a post on social media.
Israel deployed the new ships as a senior Houthi official in Yemen warned vessels in the Red Sea against navigating towards Israel. The deployment also follows a missile attack on a Norway-flagged tanker on Tuesday travelling in the narrow strait that links the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The new warships are part of Israel’s growing fleet of Sa’ar 6-class corvettes, which the Times of Israel reported earlier this year was “tasked with protecting [Israel’s] gas field and shipping lanes”.
Fitted out with Israeli weapons, the ships are made in Germany, which has significantly increased its military exports to Israel since launching its war on Gaza.
Source: ALJazeera
