The Arab coalition said Thursday (August 23rd) it had foiled a booby-trapped boat attack by Yemen's Houthis (Ansarallah) in the Red Sea, AFP reported.
A media outlet affiliated with the Iran-backed Houthis said the attack had hit a Saudi military target inside the kingdom's territorial waters, without giving details.
The coalition statement said the attack "was launched from the shores of al-Hodeidah" city, off the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.
The coalition accused the Houthis and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of continuing to threaten international navigation routes and world trade.
It also reaffirmed that the protection of the Bab al-Mandeb waterway is an international responsibility.
Last month, the Houthis hit a Saudi oil tanker in the strait, causing minor damage. Saudi Arabia on July 26th halted exports through Bab al-Mandeb as a result of the attack, before resuming the shipments 10 days later.
On August 7th, senior IRGC commander Nasser Shabani boasted in an interview with Iranian Fars News Agency that Iran ordered the Houthis to target the two Saudi oil tankers.
"We told the Yemenis to hit the two Saudi tankers and they did," Shabani was quoted as saying.
Bab al-Mandeb is a crucial shipping lane, linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. About 4.8 million barrels of oil and petroleum products pass through the strait every day.
