Rebels in Yemen seized a boat in the Red Sea on Monday (January 3), claiming it was carrying "military equipment", but Saudi Arabia denounced an act of "piracy" by the Houthis against a ship containing civilian equipment .

Saudi Arabia has been operating in Yemen since 2015 at the head of a military coalition of Muslim countries to support government forces in the face of Houthi rebels, supported by Iran.

Rival powers, Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, a country neighboring Yemen, are opposed on several issues in the Middle East.

"The UAE-flagged vessel named 'Rawabi' was hacked and kidnapped at 11.57pm (8.57pm GMT) Sunday, while sailing off the coast of Hodeida province,” in western Yemen, said Turki al-Maliki, Saudi spokesperson for the coalition.

The ship returning from the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra, off the southern coast of Yemen, had transported equipment intended for a field hospital in this archipelago and was heading for Jazan, in Saudi Arabia, he said in a press release quoted by the official Saudi agency SPA.

"The Houthi terrorist militia bears full responsibility for this criminal act of piracy," he added, calling on the rebels to "release the ship immediately".

Otherwise, "the coalition forces will take all necessary measures to deal with this violation."

Contacted by AFP, Turki al-Maliki was unable to specify the number of people on board the ship.

The Houthis confirmed seizing an Emirati-flagged boat, claiming it was carrying "military equipment".

The ship "entered Yemeni waters without any authorization" and "was engaged in hostile acts," rebel military spokesman Yahya Saree accused on Twitter.

New escalation

"The successful and unprecedented operation is part of the fight against aggression" by the coalition, of which the Emirates are a part, rebel leader Mohammed Abdelsalam said on Twitter.

He announced that a press conference would be held later today on the matter.

Several hijackings, mostly attributed to Iran, have taken place in and around Gulf waters in recent years, heightening tensions.

Iran and the United States Navy, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, regularly accuse each other of carrying out hostile maneuvers at sea.

The conflict between the Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels has escalated in recent weeks, with Saudi air forces stepping up raids on Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, and rebels stepping up missile and bomb attacks. drones against the Wahhabi kingdom.

The UN and the United States are pushing to end the war in Yemen which has been going on since 2014, but to no avail.

According to the UN, the war in Yemen has killed 377,000 people, including around 227,000 deaths due to the indirect consequences of the conflict, such as lack of clean water, hunger and disease.

With AFP

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