The United Arab Emirates said yesterday Yemeni Houthi forces had attacked a UAE vessel in a strategic Red Sea shipping lane off the coast of Yemen at the weekend and called the incident an “act of terrorism.”
Hundreds of Emirati soldiers in a Saudi-led coalition have been fighting Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, besides training Yemeni troops in the port of Aden to help rebuild a state loyal to exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The vessel, an Australian-built high speed logistics catamaran under lease to the United Arab Emirates military, was attacked by Houthi fighters near the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen’s southern coast on Saturday.
The UAE said that there were injuries among civilian crewmen.
The foreign ministry did not say how many were wounded but said they were receiving treatment in the UAE.
The UAE military had previously said there were no casualties in the attack.
“The targeting of the civilian ship in an international channel has serious implications for freedom of navigation, and is an act of terror,” the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency WAM, without elaborating.
The UAE ministry underlined that the attack represented a clear violation of all international laws and charters agreed upon for wars and conflicts.
It said in a statement reported by Emirates News Agency (WAM) that the ship (Swift) was carrying assistance, wounded Yemenis and passengers, adding that it was unarmed and had no military protection.
It was passing through the Bab Al Mandab Strait like any other civilian and commercial ship.
It has been conducting routine trips to Aden for one year and that all its crew members are civilians.
The ministry affirmed that the attack on the civilian ship will have serious repercussions on the freedom of navigation if the Houthi-Saleh militias continue to pursue maritime piracy tactics and carry out attacks on civilian ships dedicated to transporting aid and injured people.
The ministry stressed that the Houthi-Saleh militias know very well that the civilian ship was dedicated for humanitarian missions and that it had not conducted any military missions in Yemen, which affirms that these militias ignore all international norms and charters that were agreed upon for wars and international conflicts.
“While the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Yemen is working to launch a new round of negotiations and the reiteration of the Arab Coalition that a peaceful settlement is its best choice, the Houthi-Saleh militias are working to undermine peace efforts and insist on disregarding all efforts being exerted,” the ministry added.
The Houthis said their forces had fired a missile that had destroyed a UAE military vessel that was advancing towards the Red Sea port of Al-Mokha.
The UN yesterday condemned the attack on the vessel and said it took threats to shipping around Bab al-Mandeb “extremely seriously”.
The Security Council stressed the need for exercise of freedom of navigation in and around the strait.