Houthis Launch Drone Strike on Oil Port in South Yemen, Reports Say

DOHA (Sputnik) - Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, has conducted a drone strike on a commercial port in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa, which is primarily used by oil tankers, media reported.

The Houthis launched a drone strike on the port when a tanker was offloading fuel, local officials told the Arab News newspaper, adding that there were no casualties as result of the attack. It is already the third strike conducted on Yemeni ports in recent weeks.

On Thursday, an unverified Twitter account of Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare'e confirmed the attack.

Following previous strikes, Sare'e said that the attacks were the Houthis' "warning message" meant to "prevent the continuation of the massive looting of the oil wealth."

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces and the Houthi rebels since 2014. The situation was exacerbated in March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition, working in cooperation with the internationally-recognized Yemeni government, began conducting air, land and sea operations against the Houthis. The latter have retaliated by attacking Saudi forces and firing missiles into Saudi Arabia.

In April 2022, a two-month ceasefire was declared in Yemen under the auspices of the United Nations and the support of the parties to the conflict. In early August, the warring sides agreed to extend the truce until October 2 to negotiate an expanded truce.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg announced on October 2 that the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels had failed to negotiate the extension of the truce.

The rebels refused to extend the deal demanding that the government pay officials in the Houthi-controlled areas and threatening to hit oil infrastructure in Yemen and neighboring countries.