YEMEN – FRN has confirmed claims by the Houthi-led Ansarullah Movement, which is also the government of Yemen, that on Wednesday they had struck and destroyed an Emirati warship operating near the port of Al-Hodeidah on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The vessels destruction was not instantaneous, but caused a hull breach and fire which has disabled the smoldering warship.
Al-Hodeidah is currently the battle front between the Ansarullah resistance movement and Yemeni proxies of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition.
“Our glorious defenders from the naval forces were able to hit a battleship of Saudi-US hostile forces, and made the second one flee the area,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Council, said on Twitter.
According to the resistance leader, al-Houthi, the Emirati ship sank with its crew being evacuated by helicopters. The resistance leader even suggested that there may have been US military advisers on board the ship operating at an advisory level to the Emiratis just before the aggression against Al-Hodeidah began.
The Saudi-led coalition and their Yemeni proxies launched a full-scale offensive to seize Al-Hodeidah as it is the only lifeline that the Houthi-led resistance has to the outside world and is also a key entry point for humanitarian aid.
The Saudi-led coalition claimed it launched its aggression on Al-Hodeidah after it supposedly exhausted all political and diplomatic means and was only left with a military response.
Saudi Arabia in its bid to become a major regional player is concentrating on taking over Yemen through its proxies. Its efforts have especially become more desperate as they have failed in its power projection in Syria since 2011, and Lebanon and Qatar last year. This comes as its regional rival, Iran, has made significant advancements in Syria, Lebanon and Qatar. It is for this reason that Saudi Arabia is prioritizing Yemen, even at the expense of a humanitarian catastrophe that now sees over 8 million Yemenis living in pre-famine conditions.
The battle for Hodeidah can have significant repercussions on global trade as over 20% of trade passes through the Red Sea. Any disruption can see oil prices skyrocket.
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