Yemeni Forces Destroy Saudi Warship Off Western Coasts
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Yemeni army forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have targeted and destroyed a Saudi military vessel in a missile attack off the coast of the country’s western province of Hudaydah.
An unnamed Yemeni military source told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on Monday that Yemeni forces fired a guided missile at al-Madinah warship in waters near the port city of Hudaydah, located 150 kilometers southwest of the capital Sana'a.
The source added that the vessel had 176 soldiers and officers in addition to a combat helicopter onboard at the time.
The warship had reportedly mounted missile attacks against Yemen’s western coasts, cities and fishermen, Press TV reported.
On January 21, the Yemeni Coast Guard warned enemies’ battleships against using the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, to bomb civilian targets, emphasizing that such a practice poses grave threats to international maritime navigation in the area.
In October 2016, Yemeni forces and Popular Committees fighters destroyed an Emirati HSV-2 Swift hybrid catamaran off the shores of the Red Sea port city of Mukha, situated 346 kilometers south of the capital.
Yemeni army forces had destroyed a Saudi warship in a missile attack in the southwestern coast of Yemen, in the Bab el-Mandeb in October 2015.
The development came only days after Yemeni forces managed to destroy another Saudi vessel in the area, with reports saying that the sunken ship had repeatedly fired rockets on residential areas in Ta'izz Province.
