Forces of the Saudi-led coalition destroyed two mined boats belonging to the Shia rebel Houthi movement near the Salif sea port in the province of Al Hudaydah in western Yemen early on Thursday, the coalition's spokesman said, as cited by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA)
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2020) Forces of the Saudi-led coalition destroyed two mined boats belonging to the Shia rebel Houthi movement near the Salif sea port in the province of Al Hudaydah in western Yemen early on Thursday, the coalition's spokesman said, as cited by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The forces conducted an operation at 03:20 (00:20 GMT) against two Houthi military targets, Col. Turki al-Maliki said, as quoted by SPA, adding that these two sea vehicles "posed an imminent threat to shipping lines, world trade, as well as to regional and international security."
"They were equipped to carry out hostilities and terrorist operations in the Bab al-Mandab strait and the southern Red Sea," al-Maliki said.
The boats, floating six kilometers (3.72 miles) south of the Salif port and 215 meters from the Yemeni coast, were operated remotely, the spokesman added.
Al-Maliki has accused the Houthi militia of occupying Al Hudaydah as a platform to launch ballistic rockets, drones and remote-controlled boats, as well as to deploy sea mines, constituting "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."
Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces, led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthi rebels for several years now.
Since March 2015, the Saudi-led Arab alliance, working in cooperation with Hadi's forces, has been conducting air, land and sea operations against the Houthis, who control the capital of Sanaa and large areas in northern and western Yemen.
