Huti rebels hijacked a United Arab Emirates ship

Huti rebels hijacked a cargo ship flying the flag of the UAE before midnight on Sunday due to its involvement in "enemy activities"; the ship was heading for Saudi Arabia and according to the Saudis was carrying medical equipment," says Reuters Agency on Monday.

The Huti rebels aligned with Iran control most of the northern coast of Yemen. The cargo ship headed for the Saudi port of Jazan located north of Yemen and sailed from the Yemeni archipelago of Sokotra. The Saudi state news agency SPA reported that the ship was carrying equipment from a closed field hospital.

Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition allied in the fight against Huti rebels for over six years. The coalition accused the rebels of attacking freight transport in the Red Sea, where one of the busiest shipping routes leading to the Suez Canal is located. According to SPA, the ship was taken from the Yemeni port in Al-Hudajd. Huti's rebel spokesperson reported that the ship was to carry military equipment and was involved in "enemy actions against the security and stability of Yemenis".

The anti-piracy naval office of Britain (UKMTO) reported Sunday night that it received reports of an attack on a ship near the Ras Isa oil terminal, which is located north of the port of Al-Hudajd. It was unclear whether we were talking about one and the same attack on an Emirati cargo ship. UKMTO requested special caution in the vicinity of these ports. The investigation is ongoing.

The last attack in the Ras Isa area occurred in 2019 when Huti rebels briefly captured one Saudi and two South Korean ships.

Yemen has been in chaos since 2011. An international coalition of countries dominated by Sunni: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, Senegal, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, led by Saudi Arabia, has been fighting in Yemen since 2015 with Iran-supported Huti under the motto of restoring the jurisdiction of legal authorities throughout Yemen.

According to the Reuter Agency in 2021, Huti conducted an average of 78 attacks per month against Saudi Arabia, while in 2020 the average was 38. Airfields and mining and oil processing infrastructure in Saudi Arabia are mainly under attack.

Source: PAP