Arab coalition foils Houthi attack on commercial ship in Red Sea
Arab Coalition naval forces thwarted a terrorist attempt by the Houthi militia to target a commercial ship south of the Red Sea. (File photo)
Riyadh (IraqiNews.com) – Naval forces of the Saudi-led Arab coalition said they have foiled a terrorist attack launched by the Iran-backed Houthi militia targeting a commercial ship south of the Red Sea on Monday.
Col. Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Arab coalition, said in a press statement that the Houthis attempted to attack a commercial ship south of the Red Sea using a booby-trapped boat with explosives.
Al-Maliki stressed that the threat to navigation and international trade by the Iran-backed Houthi militia is a serious act of terrorism, adding that the Arab coalition forces will continue to neutralize all the hostile terrorist capabilities of the militia.
Leading a coalition of nine countries from the Middle East and Africa, Saudi Arabia launched a military operation in 2015 in response to calls from the internationally recognized pro-Saudi president of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who was ousted by the Houthi militiats.
The intervention initially consisted of a bombing campaign on Houthi rebels and later saw a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen.
Fighter jets and ground forces from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Academi (formerly Blackwater) took part in the operation.