RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked on Tuesday a Saudi oil tanker in the Red sea on Tuesday, causing “minor damage” to the ship, the Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked on Tuesday a Saudi oil tanker in the Red sea on Tuesday, causing “minor damage” to the ship, the Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels said.
Coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki said the attack occurred in international waters west of the port of Hodeida in Yemen, which is under Houthi control.
The coalition said a naval ship belonging to a member country rapidly intervened, without giving further details. The statement did not immediately provide details on the type of weapon used or the extent of the damage.
Al-Malki said a coalition naval ship accompanied the oil tanker until it completed its navigation north.
He described it as a “terrorist attack” that threatens ships entering the vital Bab al-Mandeb strait, used for oil shipments from the Gulf to Europe, as well as goods from Asia to Europe.
The attack came one day after an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 14 people near Hodeida.
The airstrike hit a compound housing displaced people in the town of al-Hami. Deputy Health Minister Walid al-Emmad said at least eight women and five girls were among those killed.
The Saudi-led coalition has been at war with the Iran-allied Houthis for more than three years, a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis and devastated the Arab world’s poorest country. Saudi-led airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians and destroyed hospitals, schools and markets.
Human Rights Watch this week called on Saudi Arabia to lift its blockade on Yemen, and for the Houthis to stop firing missiles across the border into the kingdom. The Houthis have fired close to 100 ballistic missiles toward Saudi Arabia since the war began. Last week, a missile attack killed an Egyptian worker and wounded two others in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
