Yemen Vows Retaliation After Saudi Arabia Destroys Civilian Vessels

By Staff, Agencies

Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier General Yehya Saree censured Saudi Arabia for waging a war against the impoverished Arab country over destruction of two civilian vessels in the strategic Red Sea, vowing that Yemeni troops and allied fighters will respond to the act of aggression.

Brigadier General Saree denounced the attack as a flagrant violation of an agreement reached between the warring Yemeni sides during a round of UN-sponsored peace negotiations in Sweden back in December 2018.

Delegates from the Ansarullah movement and representatives loyal to Saudi-allied former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi attended the peace negotiations in Rimbo on the outskirts of the Swedish capital Stockholm. The talks resulted in the announcement of a break-through agreement.

The document included three provisions: a ceasefire along the Hudaydah front and the redeployment of armed forces out of the city and its port; an agreement on prisoner exchange; and a statement of understanding on the southern Yemeni city of Ta’izz.

Saree noted that the attack on the Yemeni boats, which took place 6 kilometers south of the Yemeni port of Salif on Thursday, was as an attempt by Saudi Arabia to cover up its crimes.

He emphasized that the Yemeni army troops and allied fighters from Popular Committees will not sit idly by and watch such criminal acts and violations.

Saree also criticized the United Nations for its support of the Saudi war and siege on Yemen, urging the world body to assume its responsibilities and immediately stop the attacks and ongoing naval blockade.

Earlier on Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency SPA said the two boats were remotely controlled, belonged to Yemen’s Ansarullah revolutionary forces and were allegedly threatening navigation.

Colonel Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, claimed that the boats were explosive-laden and had posed an “imminent threat to sea lines of communication, international trade and regional and international security.”