Yemen rebels claim attack on UAE military vessel

Yemeni rebels on Saturday claimed that they had hit a vessel operated by the Emirati military, a part of a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government.

The UAE military said that its boat was involved in an "accident" in the Bab al-Mandab strait and there were no casualties, according to an AFP report.

"Rockets targeted an Emirati warship as it approached the coast of Mokha" on the Red Sea, the Iran-backed Huthi rebels said in a statement on their website.

An official statement from the Emirati military said that the boat was on a routine trip from Aden, further south, and that an investigation has begun.

The UAE is a member of the coalition fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies since March last year.

The rebels control nearly all of the country's Red Sea coast as well as some territory around capital Sanaa.

Pro-government forces on Saturday recaptured large parts of the town of Ghail after clashes that killed 11 rebels, military sources said.

Forces recaptured Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait in October last year thus gaining control over the strategic shipping lane connecting the Suez Canal and Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

The rebels shelled a loyalist military camp in the Bab al-Mandab area on Saturday, AFP reported.

More than 6,700 people, including civilians, have been killed in the Yemeni conflict since the coalition began its air campaign in March 2015, according to the United Nations.

(WION with inputs from AFP)