July 24 (Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it carried out strikes on Houthi military sites in Yemen’s Hodeidah governorate on Friday, saying the sites were used to threaten commercial shipping.
The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV said Saudi strikes hit facilities belonging to the state telecommunications corporation in Hodeidah city. The broadcaster also said Saudi forces targeted Kamaran Island, off Yemen’s western coast.
In a statement, Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, said on Saturday that Hodeidah port had not been targeted and that all Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Salif, remained open to maritime navigation and were receiving commercial ships.
The Saudi coalition said it would continue taking necessary measures to protect its ships and Saudi Arabia’s interests, and would respond “uncompromisingly” if the Houthis continued what it described as hostile actions.
Yemen’s Houthi-run foreign ministry said on Friday that the strikes marked the start of a phase of “escalation for escalation” and held Saudi Arabia responsible for any resulting developments.
Saudi Arabia fought a seven-year war in Yemen starting in 2015 after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement seized the capital and drove the internationally recognized government from power.
A truce in 2022 halted most major fighting in a conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people through violence, hunger and disease.
But the truce has been undermined by Houthi targeting of a Saudi airport on July 13 and the announcement of a naval blockade of the kingdom, enforced by attacks on Saudi tankers which the Houthis said they carried out on Thursday.
The Houthis said the airport attack responded to a Saudi attack on an airport under their control and that the naval blockade was a response to a Saudi siege on Yemen, which Saudi Arabia has denied.
A Saudi vessel, NCC MASA, sustained minor hull damage from an attack in the Red Sea on Friday, Saudi state news agency SPA reported, citing a Transport General Authority official source. The vessel continued to its destination after checks confirmed that the ship and its crew were safe, SPA said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Enas Alashray, Ahmed Tolba and Timour Azhari; Editing by Nia Williams, Rosalba O’Brien, David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman)
Comments