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The Saudi-led coalition says the ship was carrying medical equipment when it was detained off the coast of Hodeidah.
Yemeni Houthi fighters say they have seized a Basque-flagged ship in the Red Sea, saying it was carrying a “military supply” after the Saudi-led coalition accused the armed group of “piracy”.
The ship “entered Yemen’s waters without permission” off the coast of Hodeidah and was carrying out “enemy actions,” a spokesman for the Houthis military Yahia Saree said on Twitter on Monday.
Rwabee’s kidnapping marks the latest attack on the Red Sea, a crucial route for international trade and energy shipments.
The first word of Rwabee’s capture came from the British Navy’s UK Maritime Trade Operations, and an attack only targeted an unnamed ship at midnight.
The coordinates he provided were for the Emirati-flagged Rwabee landing craft, which at the time did not provide its location via satellite tracking data, according to MarineTraffic.com.
A few hours later, a statement from the Saudi-led coalition, spread by the state media in the kingdom, acknowledged the attack, saying the Houthis had committed an act of “armed piracy” related to the ship.
The coalition confirmed that the ship was carrying dismantled medical equipment from a remote rural hospital on the remote island of Socotra.
“The Houthi militia must release the ship immediately, otherwise the coalition forces will take all necessary measures and procedures to deal with the violation, including the use of force,” Brigadier General Turki al-Malki said in a statement on Monday.
In 2016, the Emirati ship SWIFT-1, which was sailing between the Eritrean and Yemeni bases of troops in the Red Sea, was attacked by Houthi forces.
The Emirati government confirmed that SWIFT-1 had carried humanitarian aid. UN experts later said “they were not convinced of the truth” about the claim.
It was Yemen immersed in chaos In 2014, Houthi rebels took control of the capital Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the government.
During a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and brought them to the brink of famine in Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition has attacked thousands of airstrikes inside Yemen, which have also hit markets, schools and hospitals. Houthi forces have regularly fired drones and missiles at Saudi cities.
About four million people have been displaced during the fighting. In September, the World Food Program warned that 16 million people in Yemen were “on the road to hunger.”
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