Shafaq News- Sanaa

Yemen’s Houthis (Ansarallah) on Monday struck a Saudi military landing ship and four escort vessels with ballistic missiles in the Red Sea off Mocha, saying the attack set the ship ablaze and sank or burned the accompanying boats.

Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the attack or the claimed damage.

Two sources in Yemen’s internationally recognized government earlier told Reuters that the Houthis had fired six missiles at a vessel in the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, but the ship had been “out of service” for more than a year for maintenance and was believed to have been empty at the time.

On July 20, the Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. Riyadh then stepped up maritime protection measures and announced plans for a multinational coalition to secure shipping through the Red Sea and Bab El-Mandeb.

Mocha port later suspended operations after repeated strikes, while Yemen’s government said six Houthi ballistic missiles hit the city on August 14, killing at least four civilians. The port lies near the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, a major chokepoint linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a key route for global trade and energy shipments.