The Saudi TV, quoting the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, announced that the Houthi group had hijacked the cargo ship “Rawabi” opposite the Yemeni city of Hodeidah.
According to the same source, the ship carries equipment for the Saudi hospital on Socotra Island, and that “the piracy operation exposes the Houthis’ threat to navigation in Bab al-Mandab.”
The spokesman for the coalition forces, Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki, confirmed that the cargo ship “Rawabi”, which carries the flag of the UAE, was hijacked and hijacked yesterday evening, Sunday, while it was sailing opposite the Hodeidah Governorate.
Brigadier Al-Maliki explained – in a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency – that the ship was carrying out a naval mission from Socotra Island to the port of Jizan, and that it was carrying on board all the field equipment for operating the Saudi field hospital on the island after the end of its mission and the establishment of a hospital on the island.
He added that the ship’s cargo includes ambulances, medical equipment, communications equipment, tents, a field kitchen, a field laundry, and technical and security support accessories.
Houthi assertion
A Houthi spokesman confirmed that their forces had seized an Emirati military ship carrying equipment that had entered Yemeni waters.
He stressed that the Emirati ship entered Yemeni waters without a license and practiced what he described as “hostile acts.”
Demand for immediate release
Al-Maliki held the Houthi group fully responsible “as a result of its criminal act of piracy of the ship and violating the principles of international humanitarian law, the San Remo Manual on International Law in Armed Conflicts at Sea and the United Nations Conventions on the Sea,” and demanded that they immediately release the ship.
On Monday morning, Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations said it had received reports of an attack on a ship near the shores of Yemen on the Red Sea.
The authority – which is part of the British Royal Navy – explained in a tweet via Twitter that it had received reports of an attack on a ship off the Yemeni port of “Ras Issa” on the Red Sea.
She added that investigations are underway to find out the details of the accident, and advised the sailors to be very careful in the area.
The coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE repeatedly announces that the Houthis have targeted ships in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen with booby-trapped boats and missiles.
The most recent of these attacks was on December 23, when the coalition announced – in a statement – the destruction of a booby-trapped boat of the Houthi group before carrying out an imminent attack on a ship in the southern Red Sea, without the group commenting on that.
Earlier last year, the United States and Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, accused Tehran of targeting Gulf ships and oil installations and threatening maritime navigation, which Tehran denied.