Saudi Arabia struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida on Friday with rebel media reporting two injured after the Iran-backed group announced a maritime blockade of the kingdom and hit its ships.
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Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire recently for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce that has held despite expiring.
The Saudi-led coalition said it hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets threatening commercial vessels in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping.
On Friday, Saudi state media cited a transport authority official as saying “the vessel , belonging to a Saudi company, was targeted while sailing in the Red Sea today… resulting in minor damage to the vessel’s hull”.
The ship resumed its course, the SPA added.
Red Sea access has become vital for Saudi Arabia to keep shipping oil as traffic in Hormuz is disrupted.
In April and May, all of Saudi seaborne crude exports departed from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, according to Kpler data. It represented 92 percent of all seaborne crude exports in June and 78 percent so far in July.
The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
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A Yemeni security source told AFP a naval base in Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran island were among the targets.
The flare up followed an attack on a Saudi ship, as the rebels’ maritime blockade threatened the top oil exporter’s ability to supply the world following Iran’s parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz Riyadh’s only other maritime route.
“The terrorist Houthi military… targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea,” Turki al-Maliki, the Saudi-led coalition’s spokesman, said on X.
The coalition “carried out a decisive and strong response” targeting Houthi military sites used to threaten Red Sea shipping and that the “military response is now over”, he added.
People in Hodeida heard explosions, including close to the port.
“Air strikes targeted the telecommunications building near the eastern gate of Hodeida port and the naval base at Ras al-Kathib in Hodeida,” the security source said, requesting anonymity.
The Houthis’ al-Masirah television said two people were injured a worker in the city of Hodeida and a woman on Kamaran island.
They said a telecoms building had been hit in Hodeida.
On Monday, the rebels had warned in a radio message to ships that they would target vessels “belonging to Saudi enemy” that do not comply with their blockade.
Earlier this week, the Houthis claimed attacks on two Saudi ships, with Saudi Arabia confirming one of the attacks in the Red Sea.
