Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have claimed they attacked a Saudi military ship and four escort vessels in the Red Sea with missiles, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree on Telegram.
There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities on Monday.
Mocha is a Red Sea port near the Bab al Mandeb Strait, a strategic chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and an important international shipping route.
Last Tuesday, the Houthis attacked a ship in the Bab al Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, Houthi-run news agency Saba reported. Yemen's transport ministry said four crew members were killed in the attack.
The Houthis imposed a naval blockade in July against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea in response to what they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh has denied.
A salvo of missiles
Meanwhile, Yemen’s internationally recognised government said on Monday that the Houthi group fired a salvo of missiles toward the Bab al Mandeb strait and Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
In a statement issued on Facebook, the Yemeni army’s Taiz military command said it had detected the launch of two hypersonic ballistic missiles by the Houthi group toward the southwestern city of Mocha and the Red Sea coast.
The missiles were launched from the former headquarters of the 170th Air Defence Brigade on Mount Oman, located east of the Houthi-controlled city of Taiz, the army said
According to the 2 December news agency, affiliated with Yemen’s government-aligned National Resistance Forces, Houthi forces fired as many as five ballistic missiles toward the Bab al Mandeb strait.
As of publication, no casualties or material damage had been announced as a result of the reported missile launches.
In 2014, the Iran-backed Houthis overran much of the country, including Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
