Red Sea attack by Houthis foiled by Saudi-led coalition: Officials

In a recent development, naval forces from Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen on Sunday foiled an ‘imminent terrorist attack’ by the Houthi rebels in Southern Red sea, the news agency reported. The ongoing civil war in Yemen first started in 2015 between two factions, the Yemeni government led by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi armed movement which is aligned with Iran for control of the territory.

No targets identified

According to international media reports, the Saudi led forces destroyed an unmanned boat which was laden with explosive material, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said while talking on a Saudi state news agency. He revealed that the boat was launched from Hodeidah province in Western Yemen though he did not identify where the boat was targetted for. There wasn’t any confirmation from Houthi movement rebels who have beeen battling the Sunni Muslim military coalition in a proxy war for 5 years now. 

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At least three dozen people, including 26 children and six women, were killed in airstrikes by Saudi-led forces in Yemen which started on February 15 and continued over the weekend, Yemen's Houthi rebels told media reporters, raising the death toll. The Iranian-backed rebels have said the Saudi-led coalition carried out retaliatory airstrikes early on Saturday in the mountainous northern province of Jawf after their fighters shot down a coalition warplane there the previous day.

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The coalition said it was investigating “possible collateral damage” following an operation to rescue the Tornado fighter jet's two-man crew. It said that the whereabouts of the two pilots remains unknown, international media reported. Meanwhile, local residents said the coalition was targeting Houthi fighters, who had taken cover in a residential area near the crash site. At least three houses were destroyed in the coalition airstrikes, killing all people inside, they said.

(With inputs from agencies )