Saudi Arabia Claims Foiled Boat Attack Off Yanbu

Date: 27 April 2021 - 20:44

News ID: ۸۹۶۴۵

RIYADH (Dispatches) – Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it had intercepted an explosive-laden boat off the Red Sea port of Yanbu after maritime security firms cited reports of an attack on a vessel in the area.
The Saudi Defense Ministry announced it has since launched a probe to identify the culprit behind the attempted attack, without giving more details about the alleged incidents or the extent of possible damage.
The report comes as the security firm Dryad Global said a ship had been attacked in the Saudi port of Yanbu.
It said the targeted vessel could have been the oil tanker NCC Dammam, owned by a unit of the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri).
Another security firm Neptune P2P Group previously reported a possible "explosion” at the King Fahd Port in Yanbu, adding that black smoke had been spotted near the southern entrance to the port.
The kingdom has been the target of retaliatory attacks from its southern neighbor Yemen.
The Saudi regime and allies launched aggression on impoverished Yemen in 2015 to restore former Riyadh-friendly president. It has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and brought the Arab world’s already poorest nation close to the brink of famine.
The kingdom has, in the past, reported several incidents allegedly involving such vessels in its coastal waters.
According to Saudi sources, the latest such development came last December, when a tanker was hit by one such boat off the port city of Jeddah.
Earlier, an explosion had also allegedly targeted a tanker at another Saudi terminal on the Red Sea.