Greece's coastguard on Thursday said that it would soon begin towing an oil tanker that was abandoned near Yemen after it was struck by Houthi rebels, AFP reported.
The Houthis attacked the Sounion tanker in the Red Sea in late August, claiming the Greek-flagged tanker "belongs to a company that has ties with the Israeli enemy" and said it was "accurately and directly hit" with drones and missiles.
They later released video footage showing the oil tanker, which was carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil, burning in the Red Sea after their attack.
Damage to the vessel had threatened a Red Sea oil spill four times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.
Later, the Houthis agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach the damaged Sounion in the Red Sea. That mission was abandoned last week after the EU’s naval mission determined that it “was not safe to proceed.
"Two tugboats have left the port of Piraeus and are now near the Sounion," escorted by a Greek and a French warship, the Greek coastguard said on Thursday, as quoted by AFP.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have upped their attacks in the region since the start of the war in Gaza, having launched drones towards southern Israel and targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea region.
In the wake of the uptick in Houthi attacks, the US formed a coalition, made up of more than 20 countries, aimed at safeguarding commercial traffic in the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthis.
In mid-January, with support from other countries, the US and Britain targeted just under 30 Houthi locations with 150 different weapons. They have since carried out several rounds of strikes against Houthi targets.
The Houthis have been unfazed by the strikes, saying that the campaign against the "Zionist enemy" will continue and that the attacks against the American and British ships will not stop.