On Monday evening, the US ambassador to Yemen, Stephen Fagin, called on the Houthi group to stop its threats to international maritime trade and return to the negotiating table to end the war.

This comes after the Houthis claimed a drone attack on Al-Dhaba oil port in Hadramout governorate, which the Yemeni government considered a dangerous escalation, while a local official said that the bombing stopped the export process.

Fagin announced, in a statement, that he had concluded a visit to the interim capital, Aden, during which he met Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdul-Malik and other government officials.

The US ambassador expressed his concern about the possibility of renewed escalation that undermines relief and support efforts in Yemen, and stressed that the Houthi attacks on ports will only harm the Yemenis by exacerbating the fuel shortage.

Earlier on Monday, the Yemeni government announced that the Houthi group had attacked, with an explosives-laden drone, the port of Al-Dhaba, in the second attack of its kind within a month.

In a statement, the Yemeni government warned against the Houthis continuing to target civilian facilities and national economic facilities.

It considered this a dangerous escalation that would exacerbate the humanitarian situation.

The statement added that what he described as the Houthi militia attacked with Iranian drones, targeting the Al-Dabbah oil port in Hadramout, while a commercial oil ship was docking, ignoring the dangers and effects of its attacks.

The Houthis use drones in their attacks (Al-Jazeera - Archive)

Damages and stop export

For its part, the Yemeni Ministry of Defense said that its air defenses had intercepted and shot down a number of hostile drones belonging to the Houthi group.

It explained that one of them hit the oil export platform in Al-Dhaba oil port in Hadramout governorate, causing material damage to it.

In the context, a local official in Hadramout told Anadolu Agency that the Houthi attack on Al-Dhaba port stopped the export of a shipment of about two million barrels of crude oil.

For his part, the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said that his forces forced an oil ship that tried to approach the port of Al-Dhaba in southeastern Yemen to leave after it tried to transport oil.

Two port workers told Reuters that the Houthis fired a missile from a drone that landed at the entrance to the port located in the town of Al-Shihr.

The two workers added that the Panamanian-flagged ship Pratica entered the terminal to load a cargo of crude, but left after the attack.

The British Maritime Trade Operations of the British Royal Navy said it had received a report of a missile or missile attack in the Al-Shihr area at 12:12 GMT, targeting one berth for ships.

It added that all crew members and the ship were fine, without mentioning the ship's name.

The attack came at a time when the United Nations is making efforts to extend a truce that ended on October 2, and the government and the Houthis are exchanging accusations about responsibility for the failure to extend it.

Yemen has been witnessing an 8-year war between forces loyal to the legitimate government, backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have been in control of governorates, including the capital, Sana'a (north), since September 2014.