Clashes near Yemen’s Mokha kill more than 40 troops, rebels

ArabRCRC condemns missile attack targeting Makkah

ADEN, July 30, (Agencies): More than 40 troops and rebels have been killed in several days of clashes between Yemen’s Saudi-backed army and insurgents allied with Iran near the Red Sea port of Mokha, officials said Sunday.

Fighting has intensified around the Khaled Ibn al-Walid military base east of Mokha since government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition seized it from the Houthi rebels last week.

Sixteen Houthis and seven soldiers were killed in overnight clashes and air raids outside Mokha, according to military officials and witnesses at hospitals in the area.

Twenty Yemeni soldiers were also killed in a rebel strike on the Khaled base in Taiz province, around 40 kms (25 miles) east of Mokha, on Thursday, a military official there said.

The port of Mokha on the Red Sea, a key waterway for international trade and imports, is under army control.

The Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates, on Saturday said the Houthis had attacked the port with a remote-controlled boat carrying explosives.

No casualties were reported in the attack, which the Shiite rebels claimed hit a battleship from the United Arab Emirates.

The coalition also said a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis was shot down on Thursday near Makkah in Saudi Arabia, the site of the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage that falls next month.

The Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Organization (ArabRCRC) on Sunday strongly condemned the missile attack by the Yemeni Houthi militia targeting Makkah.

The “abject” attempt is a grave development violating the sanctity of the Holy City, calling for taking the firm legal measures against the criminal acts, the organization said in a press statement.

It urged the international community to seriously and legally take the recent aggression on the Islamic holy sites either in Makkah or in Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem).