Saudi Arabia 'foils Yemen rebels boat attack in Red Sea'

Saudi Arabia 'foils Yemen rebels boat attack in Red Sea'
Saudi Arabia denied it had been hit by a Houthi rebel attack in the Red Sea on Thursday.
2 min read
24 August, 2018
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict [Getty]

The Saudi-led coalition denied it had been hit by a Houthi rebel attack on Thursday, saying it had foiled a booby-trapped boat attack by Yemen's rebels in the Red Sea weeks, after the rebels hit a Saudi oil tanker.

A statement cited by state-run Al-Ekhbariya news channel did not identify the target of the attack but the rebel-run Saba news agency said the Houthis hit a Saudi military target inside the kingdom's territorial waters. It gave no further details.

The coalition statement said "the terrorist attack by a booby-trapped boat was launched from the shores of Hodeida," a city off the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits.

The coalition, which has been fighting the Houthi militias since March 2015, accused the rebels and the Iranian revolutionary guards of continuing to threaten international navigation routes and world trade.

It also reaffirmed that the protection of the Bab al-Mandeb waterway is an international responsibility.

Last month, the Houthi rebels hit a giant Saudi oil tanker in the strategic waterway off Yemen coast causing minor damage.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude oil supplier, on July 26 halted exports through Bab al-Mandeb as a result of the attack before resuming the shipments 10 days later.

Bab al-Mandab is a crucial shipping lane between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

About 4.8 million barrels of oil and petroleum products pass through the strait every day, according to US government figures.

The Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in March 2015 against the Houthis and has faced criticism for a campaign of airstrikes that has killed civilians and destroyed hospitals and markets.

On Thursday, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike killed 26 people - 22 children and 4 women - near the port city of Hodeida.

The Houthi-run SABA news agency made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, two weeks after the coalition killed 40 children in an air raid on a school bus in the north of the country.

The report said the strike hit a car carrying displaced people in the Duraihimi District of the rebel-held province of Hodeida.

A Houthi military leader told the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV that the strike targeted a convoy of cars fleeing Hodeida, killing all on board.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict that has been described by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.