SANA’A, YEMEN — Yemen’s navy targeted a military vessel belonging to Saudi Arabia off of the northwestern coast of Hajjah on Wednesday, reportedly killing all aboard the vessel. The boat, which was in the Medi port, was carrying out attacks on the residential districts of Heiran and Medi in Hajjah when it was hit, according to a statement from Yemen’s navy.

A source in Yemen’s navy confirmed to MintPress News that it targeted the Saudi vessel with a new type of domestically-manufactured missile, but did not name the missile.

The Saudi-led coalition has not yet commented on the attack, which occurred during an increase in coalition airstrikes on the residential area of Hajjah and other provinces — strikes that have killed and injured more than 50 civilians over the past 72 hours in the strategic Red Sea port.

Yemen’s military, loyal to the Ansar Allah (Houthis) has demonstrated increasing success in repelling major coalition attacks, and has successfully carried out attacks on military targets belonging to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including attacks on their own soil.

These attacks usually come in response to major military offensives carried out by the coalition.  In September, Yemen’s navy targeted a Saudi warship off of Saudi Arabia’s southwestern coast in retaliation for a coalition attack on Yemeni fishing boats the day before. And in July, Yemen’s navy targeted a large Saudi warship, dubbed the Dammam, which was carrying out maneuvers off of Yemen’s western coast. That attack came in retaliation for a deadly Saudi-led coalition military offensive against Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, a lifeline for the majority of Yemen’s population.

A source inside of Yemen’s air force recently told MintPress that an unmanned long-range drone, known as the “Qassif,” targeted troops and allied mercenaries belonging to the UAE at the Anber military base in western Yemen.

Yemen’s air force has increasingly relied on domestically-made drones to carry out attacks on forces belonging to Saudi Arabia and UAE, including a strike last month on an important military target which the Air Force said was a command center for Saudi and UAE troops in the country’s western coastal province of Hodeida.

While Yemen’s military has increasingly achieved victories over coalition forces, it faces one of the most well-funded and -equipped military coalitions in the Middle East. The Saudi-led war on Yemen, which began in 2015, has triggered one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, owing largely to the coalition’s targeting of civilians and reliance on scorched-earth tactics, including tens of thousands of airstrikes. Moreover, the United States has provided the bulk of bombs and weapons to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, and provides logistical and intelligence support for selecting airstrike targets.

Supported by the United States and other Western military powers, the war in Yemen has transformed this country from the poorest in the Middle East to a glaring humanitarian disaster zone — a deadly place for anyone with failing kidneys, infectious disease, or chronic illness.

 Top Photo | A screenshot from video showing a previous attack on a Saudi warship.  

Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.

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