Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed on Monday that they had launched an attack on a Saudi military vessel and four accompanying patrol boats in the Red Sea, marking a significant escalation in the group’s ongoing campaign against Saudi Arabia. The reported strike took place off the coast of Mokha, a region that has repeatedly emerged as a flashpoint in the broader Red Sea conflict.
According to Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, the group deployed several ballistic missiles to target a Saudi military landing ship along with its four escort patrol boats near the Yemeni coastline. Saree asserted that the targeted vessels were either sunk or set ablaze during the strike, though these claims have not been independently verified by any outside party. Saudi Arabia had not issued an official response to the Houthi announcement at the time of reporting.
Separately, an AFP report indicated that seven missiles in total were fired toward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the coastline near Mokha, a city currently under government control. The report specified that both a Yemeni commercial vessel and a military camp belonging to government forces were among the targets, though no details were provided regarding potential casualties or the extent of any damage caused.
Social media accounts covering the region also reported that a Saudi landing craft and its four accompanying military boats came under attack in the waters off Al-Mukha, reinforcing the picture of an active and volatile situation along this critical maritime corridor.
The reported attack unfolds against a backdrop of intensifying conflict within Yemen itself, coming as fighting escalates following a broader breakdown in the country’s fragile peace arrangements. The Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most strategically important shipping lanes connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, has increasingly become a flashpoint for regional hostilities, raising fresh concerns about the safety of maritime traffic and the broader stability of the area as tensions between Yemen’s warring factions and their regional backers continue to intensify.