Saudi-led coalition says it foiled Red Sea attack by Yemen’s Houthis

Naval forces from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen on Sundayfoiled an "imminent terrorist" attack by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement inthe southern Red Sea, a major commercial shipping channel, the coalition said.

The forces destroyed anunmanned boat laden with explosives that was launched from Hodeidah provincein western Yemen, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said ina statement on Saudi state news agency SPA, without identifying the targets.

There was no immediateconfirmation from the Houthi movement.

Yemen lies along the Babal-Mandeb strait at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, one of the mostimportant trade routes for oil tankers heading from the Middle East to Europe.

Malki said the planned attackposed a threat to regional and international security and maritime trade. Hesaid the use of Hodeidah for operations was a "glaring violation" of a U.N.-ledpeace deal in the disputed port city that was agreed between the Saudi-backedYemeni government and the Houthis in December 2018.

Coalition warplanes carriedout several air strikes on the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Sunday, hitting thepresidential palace and other military sites, residents told Reuters.