On October 12, the Yemeni al-Masirah TV aired a short documentary about the Yemeni Navy [loyal to the Houthis], in which it claimed that 20 warships and boats of the Saudi-led coalition had been targeted off the western and southern coasts of Yemen since the beginning of the war in 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsmJHDIA-9g
The documentary contained new footage of the attacks on the UAE Navy ship “HSV-2 Swift” on October 1 of 2016 and on the Royal Saudi Navy frigate “al-Madinah” on February 2 of 2017. While HSV-2 Swift was reportedly hit with an unspecified anti-ship guided missile, al-Madinah was targeted with a remotely controlled water-borne improvised explosive device (WBIED).
Furthermore, the documentary shows satellite images of the aftermath of the attacks on the UAE Navy landing ship “al-Awdah” and minesweeper “al-Qanisah” on June 26 and July 29 of 2017. According to experts, both warships were hit with WBIEDs while they were anchored at the Yemeni port of al-Mocha.
“al-Awdah” before and after attack
“al-Qanisah” after the attack
While the al-Masirah documentary didn’t mention any information about the Yemeni Navy WBIEDs, a previous report by the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) revealed that these booby-trapped boats were locally made with technical help from Iran.
No new information about the anti-ship missiles of the Yemeni Navy were shown in the documentary. However, al-Masirah revealed that the Yemeni Navy is now locally producing naval mines named “Mersad.” The specifications of this type of mines remain unknown.
Click to see full-size image
Click to see full-size image
The recent battles on the western coast of Yemen highlighted the importance of the Yemeni Navy, which played a key role in repelling many attacks by the Saudi-led coalition on the coastal city of al-Hudaydah. Promoting the Yemeni Navy, the Houthis and their allies are aiming to show their capabilies to deter the coalition if it launches new attacks on the Houthis-controlled part of the western coast.
