Houthi rebels claim attack on UAE warship in Yemen

Yemen’s rebel Houthi group has claimed an attack on a United Arab Emirates (UAE) warship in western Yemen.

In a statement on Sunday, the Houthi naval forces said the ship was carrying helicopters in the Mocha port. The statement, however, gave no details about how the vessel was attacked.

The Saudi-led coalition, for its part, said the Houthis had used a remote-controlled boat packed with explosives in Saturday’s attack on the Mocha port.

It said the boat hit a naval pier near a group of ships, causing an explosion. There were no reports of casualties.

The coalition warned that such attacks risked disrupting the flow of aid to Yemen, which fell into civil war in 2014 when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Read: Houthis launch missile at Saudi oil refiner

Since 2015, the Saudi-led coalition has been pounding rebel positions in an attempt to reverse Houthi military gains and shore up the Yemeni government.

Over 3 million people have fled their homes since the onset of the Yemen conflict, and more than 20 million throughout the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).