By Mohamed Fahd and Mohamed al-Samei
DOHA/SANAA (AA) – United Arab Emirates (UAE) naval forces on Wednesday destroyed two Houthi vessels in the Red Sea, according to Abu Dhabi's official WAM news agency.
“The two armed vessels had been threatening a commercial oil tanker,” according to a statement released by the UAE military and carried by WAM.
“Two other [Houthi] vessels managed to flee the scene,” the statement added.
The UAE is a member of a Saudi-led military coalition cobbled together in 2015 to fight Yemen’s Houthi rebel group, which overran much of Yemen — including capital Sanaa — one year earlier.
In a related development, the Yemeni army announced Wednesday that it had captured several Houthi positions in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf province.
“The army has liberated the strategic Amhur Mountain region, thus cutting Houthi supply lines,” Army Brigadier-General Hadi al-Geidi was quoted as saying in an army-linked news website.
Army forces, he added, were now advancing on Al-Jawf’s Bart Al-Anan district.
At least 15 Houthi militants were killed in the fighting, he said, adding that Saudi-led coalition warplanes had struck a number of rebel positions “destroying scores of armored vehicles and a field hospital”.
Houthi officials, for their part, have not issued any statements confirming or denying either claim.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a wide-ranging military campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi influence in Yemen.
Riyadh has repeatedly accused the Houthis of acting as a proxy force for Shia Iran, Saudi Arabia’s arch-foe in the region.
