Tensions boil after Houthi capture of UAE-flagged ship
SMA NEWS – RIYADH
Tensions over the capture of a UAE-flagged ship by Iran-backed Houthi militias are reaching new heights, with a Saudi-led military coalition threatening to target Yemen’s militia-held ports and the Houthis reporting the coalition had diverted to a Saudi port a fifth fuel vessel heading for Hodeidah.
On Monday, the Houthis based in the key Red Sea port of Hodeida seized the Emirati-flagged Rwabee ship claiming it contained military materials.
Saudi Arabia condemned what it called piracy against a civilian vessel.
“The terrorist, Iran-backed Houthi militia must promptly release the commercial cargo ship (RWABEE) with all its humanitarian, non-combatant cargo intact,” coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said on Tuesday.
“Should the militia fail to comply, all ports that launch and harbour these acts of piracy, hijacking and armed robbery and those pirates who perpetrate them will render said ports legitimate military targets,” he added, in a statement quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Hodeidah has been a lifeline entry point for aid supplies to Yemen’s largely rebel-held north, including the capital Sana’a.
The seized ship is being held in the Houthi-held port of Salif, north of Hodeidah, some 60 kilometres from the border with Saudi.
The coalition said the vessel was in international waters when it was seized and was carrying “medical field equipment” meant for the construction of a hospital on the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra.
