Yemen rebels fire missile at UAE ship

Riyadh: Yemeni rebels have fired a missile at an Emirati ship near the Bab Al Mandab strait, injuring a crewman, the Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday, marking the latest incident in the strategic waters.

The coalition, which intervened after Yemen’s Al Houthi rebels and their allies ousted the legitimate government more than two years ago, did not name the vessel or say whether it was civilian or military.

It was leaving the port of Mokha, in Yemen’s southwest, when the attack occurred but the ship itself was not damaged, the coalition said.

The rebels control northern Yemen and seized the capital Sana’a in September 2014, supported by members of the security forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Coalition-backed forces supporting the internationally-recognised government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi took back Mokha from the rebels in February.

The historic port is just north of the Bab Al Mandab which links the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean and is vital to global trade.

An international naval coalition, the Combined Maritime Forces, on Monday warned that “there are still risks” to ships transiting Bab Al Mandab.

Yemeni rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, killing two sailors.

The rebels are also believed to have fired missiles toward US warships in the area.

Late last year the rebels attacked a UAE vessel, the high-speed catamaran HSV-2 Swift, in the Bab Al Mandab.

The UAE said the ship was “civilian” and lacked “any military capability”.