TEHRAN - The Yemeni Ansarullah government has launched a wave of military operations in response to the recent Israeli massacre in Rafah.

The spokesman for the Yemeni forces said drones and missiles were used to target Israeli and American ships as well as U.S. destroyers in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. 

In a televised speech, Yahya Saree, said the Yemeni armed forces attacked the American LAREGO DESERT and the Israeli MSC MECHELA in the Indian Ocean. 

Recently the Sanaa-based Ansarullah government announced it would target Israeli ships and those affiliated with the regime in the Indian Ocean in the fourth phase of its military operations in solidarity with Gaza. 

Saree also announced the crude oil tanker MINERVA LISA was targeted in the Red Sea for violating Ansarullah's ban on vessels transiting the Bab al-Mandeb strait for "entering the ports of occupied Palestine". 

Also, two special operations were carried out on two American war destroyers in the Red Sea, according to the Yemeni military spokesman. 

He went on to say the operations by the Yemeni naval forces, missile forces, and drones had successfully achieved their objectives, and that Ansarullah will continue to stand for the "just cause of Palestinian people until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted". 

On Tuesday, reports emerged citing the British security firm Ambrey as saying three missiles had been fired at a merchant ship off the Yemeni coast. 

The vessel targeted issued a distress call after the cargo hold was reportedly damaged and it began taking on water. 

The attack left the ship tilting to one side 54 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, Ambrey added. 

Since November, Ansarullah has been launching repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea and beyond. 

On Thursday, the leader of the Sana'a government, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said, "The number of ships targeted so far has reached 119 vessels linked to the Israeli, American, and British enemy." 

The Yemeni forces have also launched missile and drone strikes against the Israeli port of Eilat. 

The latest attacks on Monday and the strikes on another ship reported on Tuesday follow a massacre by Israeli warplanes in the Gaza city of Rafah that burned many displaced people sheltering in tents to death. 

Health officials say about 45 people were killed and some 250 others injured in the Israeli raid on Sunday night. Most of the dead were women and children. 

Rafah was home to more than 85% of the Gaza population who had fled the Israeli bombing campaign in other parts of the coastal enclave. A million people have been forced to leave the southern city since Israeli tanks began to crawl in on May 6. 

The latest Israeli massacre has drawn further global condemnation at the disproportionate level of force by the Israeli army against civilians in totally besieged territory.