Why did Yemeni forces insist on burning “Sounion” this time?

For the first time since the operations against the Israeli occupation and its allies began last November, Yemeni forces admitted burning a Greek-flagged oil ship in response to its owner’s violation of Yemen’s decision to ban navigation to Israeli ports. What are the implications of this step?

Exclusive – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

Despite the Yemeni forces have carried out over 180 operations in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and even the Mediterranean, sinking various ships either partially or completely, this time it announced setting fire to a Western oil ship.

The “Sounion” ship was crossing the Red Sea when Yemeni naval boats attempted to intercept it routinely, but the ship resorted to a show of force instead of diplomacy. According to images released by the ship’s owning company and circulated by activists on Telegram, armed individuals aboard the ship began firing at Yemeni naval boats, a narrative confirmed by Reuters and Bloomberg in reports last weekend.

It is not known whether there were victims in these confrontations, but it is certain that the ship’s crew believed that with the force accompanying them, they were able to secure the ship’s passage through the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, a task that American and Western fleets have failed to achieve since last January.

The armed confrontations around the ship did not last long before a resounding response came in the form of missiles and drone boats that damaged the ship and forced it to deviate. However, media reports and navigational sources stated that the Yemeni forces did not stop there, but a team managed to board the ship after evacuating its crew and set it on fire, as shown in satellite images displaying three separate fires aboard the ship.

The burning of the ship may imply several possibilities, notably that Yemeni forces are attempting to dispose of the oil on board the ship by setting it on fire and preventing it from leaking into the sea. Another possibility is that the fire is a strong message to any company attempting to bypass Yemeni decisions by force, and more importantly, it is a message to the American forces that announced days ago the redeployment of a third fleet in the Red Sea under the leadership of the aircraft carrier “Abraham Lincoln.”

There may be several messages from burning the ship instead of sinking it, but what is important now is that the operation is an indicator of an escalation in Yemeni operations and their quality during the coming period, especially with anticipation of entering a new phase following Sana’a’s announcement of the fifth phase, particularly the awaited response from the axis.