Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi ship, launch ballistic missile

A Saudi frigate warship came under a attack by three suicide boats belonging to Houthi militias while it was on patrol west of Yemen’s Hodeida port on Monday, causing an explosion that killed two crew members and injured three others, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

The command of the coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen confirmed the attack in a statement on Monday and said that the Saudi ship “dealt with the boats as necessary,” according to Al Arabiya.

One of the Houthi boats collided with the rear of the Saudi warship, resulting in the explosion of the boat and a fire at the rear of the ship. The crew were able to extinguish the fire but two members of the ship’s crew were killed in the attack while three others were injured and are said to be in stable conditions.

“The Saudi ship has continued its patrol duties in the area of operations, while the air force and the coalition forces' ships continued to chase the fleeing boats to deal with them,” the statement read.

“The command of the coalition asserts that the continuation of the Houthi militias' use of the port of Hodeida as a launching pad for terrorist operations is a serious development that would affect the international navigation and the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance into the port for Yemeni citizens,” the statement added.

It was at least the second attack by the Houthis on ships off the coast of Yemen in the last six months.

Separately, the Houthis said they launched a ballistic missile at a Saudi-led coalition military base on the Red Sea island of Zuqar between Yemen and Eritrea on Tuesday morning, according to the group's official news channel al-Masira.

There was no immediate coalition reaction to that claim and it was unclear if there were any casualties.

The attacks signal an escalation to weeks of combat on Yemen's western coast between the Iran-allied Houthis and the coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government.

The group is engaged in battles on the mainland with coalition troops and pro-government fighters, who are trying to advance northward to deprive the Houthis of Red Sea ports.