Yemen’s Houthi fighters hijacked a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Yemen on Sunday night, according to a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition that’s battling the rebel force.
The vessel, Rawabi, was carrying supplies used to operate a Saudi hospital on the island of Socotra, and was sailing near the Red Sea port city of Hodeida when it was attacked, the coalition said in a statement on Monday. The coalition demanded that the fighters “immediately release the ship” and threatened to use force if they didn’t.
Houthi armed forces spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that their fighters had captured a military cargo ship carrying weapons after it entered Yemen territory without permission.
The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s United Nations-recognized government since 2014. A Saudi Arabian-led coalition intervened the following year with a bombing campaign, on the side of the government. The UN has called the conflict—in which tens of thousands of people have died—the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Follow us on social media: