Cairo: Forces from Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the US are conducting military drills in the Red Sea, including training in joint combat acts against potential threats, an Egyptian army official has said.
The manoeuvres, code-named “Response of the Eagle 2008” also include training in search and rescue operations, mines combat as well as inspections, army spokesman Col Tamer Al Refaai added on his official Facebook page.
The exercises, which run for several days, come less than a week after Yemen’s Iran-allied Al Houthi militants attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.
“The drills aim at enhancing skills of the participating elements, unifying operational concepts and exchanging training expertise,” the Egyptian official said.
Wednesday’s attack on the oil tankers off Yemen’s west coast prompted Saudi Arabia to temporarily halt its oil shipments through the Bab Al Mandab Strait, a major waterway linking the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal.
In June, a Saudi-led Arab coalition, supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government, unleashed a massive offensive to liberate the Red Sea city of Hodeida and its vital port from Al Houthis.
The alliance on Tuesday accused Al Houthis of hampering the navigation traffic by mismanaging the Hodeida harbour.
The coalition warned this mismanagement will result in an “environmental disaster” that will in turn halt the delivery of badly needed humanitarian relief.
Hodeida in west Yemen is strategically important because of its harbour, which is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, as most of the commercial imports and relief supplies enter through it to the country.
“Hampering the food entry through the port adds to Yemenis’ suffering,” the alliance said, according to Dubai-based television Al Arabiya.
The Coalition accuses Al Houthis of taking advantage of their control of the port to obtain weapons from their Iranian patrons as well as confiscate aid intended for Yemenis in order to sustain their war efforts.
Since the commencement of the campaign for Hodeida on June 13, the coalition-backed government forces have made territorial gains against Al Houthis in the region. Pro-government forces have approached Hodeida’s district of Al Hawak, military sources said on Tuesday.
They added that pro-government Giants Brigades, supported by coalition air strikes, reached the edges of the district after fierce clashes with Al Houthis, who suffered heavy casualties and hardware losses, according to news portal Adan Al Ghad.
