Saudi-led Coalition Says Commercial Cargo Ship in Red Sea Hit by Marine Mine Laid by Yemen’s Houthis

The coalition claimed there were only merely minor damages to the ship and said the incident did not lead to any casualties.

A marine mine laid by Houthis in Yemen has hit a commercial cargo ship in the southern part of the Red Sea, the Saudi-led coalition said, as cited by Saudi state TV.

There were reportedly minor damages to the vessel, but no casualties.

The Saudi-led coalition of Arab states entered the standoff between Yemen’s government and the armed Houthi political opposition forces on the side of the country’s authorities in 2015, after the Houthis had made significant gains during the early days of the clashes.

The coalition has since been conducting air, land, and sea operations against the militants, who control Sanaa and large areas in northern and western Yemen.

In recent months, the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which has been engulfed in the civil war since 2014, has been a hot spot of multiple attacks reported by Riyadh as Houthi provocations involving rockets, drones and explosives.

The latest incident, in which a drone targeting Riyadh was intercepted, occurred on 4 December, according to the kingdom.