Illustrative image.
On February 26, the 5th Military District of the pro-Saudi Yemeni Armed Forces announced that its naval units had destroyed two booby-trapped boats of the Houthis (Ansar Allah).
In a statement, the force said that its units engaged and destroyed the two water-borne improvised explosive devices (WBIED) off Yemen’s western coast as they were attempt to enter the Red Sea’s international waters.
The Houthis have been targeting Saudi-led coalition warships with remotely-controlled WBIEDs for several years. In 2017, a detailed report by the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) revealed that Iranian components were used in the making of these makeshift anti-shipping weapon.
The 5th Military District, backed by other pro-Saudi formation, kicked off a large-scale attack on Houthi forces in the district of Harad in the northwestern province of Hajjah earlier this month. However, it failed to make any real gains in the district.
Despite this, the Saudi-led coalition continue to target Houthis forces in Hajjah. Between February 25 and 26, coalition warplanes carried out 15 airstrikes on the province. Nine vehicles of the Houthis were allegedly destroyed.
Now, the 5th Military District is only carrying out defensive operations in Hajjah. Over the last two days, the force shot down three drones which were allegedly launched by the Houthis.
