Hodeidah (South24, Reuters)

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The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen announced that the Houthi militia has hijacked at gunpoint a cargo ship "Rawabi" in front of the Yemeni city of Hodeidah, which is located on the Red Sea.

The coalition said that the  UAE-flagged "Rawabi" ship "was carrying equipment for operating the Saudi field hospital on Socotra Island", in South Yemen.

The coalition add that the piracy operation exposes the Houthi militia's threat to maritime navigation in Bab al-Mandab, calling for the immediate release of the ship (Rawabi).

The Houthis claimed that the ship was military and had military equipment on board. According to the military spokesman of the group.

late on Sunday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received reports of an attack on a vessel near Yemen's port of Ras Isa and an investigation was being conducted, according to "Reuters".

In an advisory issued at 2150 GMT, the UKMTO - part of Britain's Royal Navy - advised mariners to exercise extreme caution in the area.

It put the vessel's position at approximately 23 nautical miles west of Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.

The last shipping incident near Ras Isa was in late 2019 when Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement briefly seized a Saudi-flagged ship and two South Korean vessels.

Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition that has been battling the Houthis for more than six years.

The alliance has accused the movement of attacking shipping in the Red Sea, one of the world's busiest maritime lanes leading up to the Suez Canal.

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- Photo: Reuters