Aden (Yemen) - The Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces foiled Wednesday a bomb attack by the Shiite Houthi group against a warship of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) near the western port city of Mocha. The Shiite Houthi rebels attempted to attack a UAE warship near Mocha with a boat loaded with explosives, military source said. The source added that the Yemeni troops intercepted and destroyed the remote-controlled, explosives-laden boat away from the Mocha port, causing no casualties or substantial damage. The strategic Mocha city was captured by the Saudi-backed government forces in an all-out military offensive against Houthis earlier this year. The Houthi forces claimed responsibility for several previous attacks against Saudi, UAE and U.S. ships in the Red Sea using ballistic missiles or explosives-laden boats. In June, the UAE Armed Forces General Command said that a UAE ship carrying medical aid was hit by a rocket attack launched by Houthi militia off the Mocha Port. The attack caused no damage to the vessel, but left one crew member injured. Since March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Arab peninsula state of Yemen. The UAE is part of the coalition of nine Arab states to support Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
