Saudi-led coalition foils Huthi Red Sea attack

The Arab Coalition destroys 3 marine mines over 24 hours laid by Huthi militias in Bab al-Mandab strait, southern Red Sea.

HODEIDAH - The Arab coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, announced that it had foiled an "imminent terrorist" attack by the Huthis by using a "booby-trapped, remote-controlled boat".

"This morning, Sunday, the coalition naval forces detected an attempt by the Iranian-backed Huthi terrorist militia to carry out imminent hostile and terrorist action in the southern Red Sea using a booby-trapped remote-controlled boat," the Saudi news agency quoted a coalition spokesman as saying.

Al-Maliki added that the booby-trapped boat launched by the Huthi militia from Al Hodeidah governorate was damaged and destroyed by the coalition naval forces, pointing to a terrorist act "that represents a threat to regional and international security as well as maritime transport and global trade.”

Al-Maliki said that 3 marine mines were also discovered and destroyed during the past 24 hours in the Bab al-Mandab strait and the southern Red Sea, where the vital waterway for commercial navigation is a major transit point for commercial ships and oil tankers.

The coalition spokesman said that the number of Huthi marine mines that have been discovered and destroyed so far is up to 150.

Al-Maliki indicated that the Huthis are in the Hodeidah governorate to launch ballistic missiles, drones, booby-trapped and remote-operated boats, as well as the random deployment of naval mines, in a clear and explicit violation of international humanitarian law and in violation of the provisions of the "Stockholm" agreement and the cease-fire agreement in Hodeidah.

He stressed that the Alliance Joint Forces Command continued to implement strict measures against the militia and to neutralise and destroy such capabilities that threaten regional and international security.

Last week, the rebels suffered heavy losses in lives and equipment in a confrontation with the Yemeni army in the city of Al-Duraimi, south of Hodeidah, and used various types of heavy and medium weapons, including artillery shells.

 A source from the website of the Brigades of the Giants (affiliated with the army) said, "The army forces responded to the attack, and resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries among the attacking forces, as well as the destruction of many military vehicles and equipment.”

The source pointed out that the attack "comes as part of a series of continuous violations committed by the Huthi group, despite the ceasefire (with government forces) in effect on various fronts of fighting in Hodeidah by the United Nations," according to the Sweden agreement in mid-December.