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On September 1, the Yemeni Navy [loyal to the Houthis] announced that it had targeted a warship of the Royal Saudi Navy off the coast of the southern kingdom’s province of Jizan. According to the Yemeni al-Masirah TV, the Saudi military evacuated several injured personnel from the warship to Jizan’s hospitals after the attack.
“The targeting of the Saudi warship comes in response to the targeting of fishermen in the coasts and islands of Yemen,” a source in the Yemeni Navy told al-Masirah.
Earlier this week, Saudi-led coalition warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on a fishing port in the island of Uqban off the western Yemeni coast. The Yemeni Fishing Committee said that five Yemeni fishermen were killed and fourteen others went missing as a result of the airstrikes.
The Yemeni Navy usually uses remotely-controlled water-born improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs) to attack Saudi-led coalition warships. According to a report by the Conflict Armament Research (CAR), these WBIEDs include Iranian components.
From its side, the Saudi-led coalition has not confirmed or denied the claims of the Yemeni Navy so far. The coalition usually responds to such attacks by conducting airstrikes on the Houthis’ positions on the western coast of Yemen.
