The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen carried out a limited airstrike targeting what it described as “external military support” at Al-Mukalla Port, days after warning the Southern Transitional Council (STC)—the main separatist group in southern Yemen—against undertaking military movements in Hadramout Governorate in the east of the country.
اضافة اعلان
Earlier this month, an attack by separatist forces led to clashes between the STC and Yemeni government forces, in a country that has been mired in civil war since 2014.
Coalition spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said that two vessels arriving from Fujairah Port in the United Arab Emirates entered Al-Mukalla Port on Saturday and Sunday “without obtaining official permits from the Joint Forces Command of the coalition.” He added that the crews disabled the vessels’ tracking systems and unloaded large quantities of weapons and combat vehicles to support STC forces in Yemen’s eastern governorates (Hadramout and Al-Mahra), “with the aim of fueling the conflict.”
Al-Maliki stressed that this constituted “a clear violation of efforts to impose de-escalation and reach a peaceful solution, as well as a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 (2015).”
The Saudi Press Agency quoted the coalition as saying that the strike on Al-Mukalla Port “did not result in any fatalities, injuries, or collateral damage.”
Saudi state media also quoted Al-Maliki as saying that, based on a request from the Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, to “take all necessary military measures to protect civilians in Hadramout and Al-Mahra,” and given the danger posed by these weapons and the escalation threatening security and stability, coalition air forces carried out a limited military operation on Sunday morning targeting weapons and combat vehicles unloaded from the two vessels at Al-Mukalla Port.
Two sources told Reuters that the strike targeted the dock where the ships’ cargo had been unloaded.
Al-Maliki explained that the operation “was conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules, ensuring that no collateral damage occurred.”
He affirmed the coalition leadership’s continued commitment to de-escalation and maintaining calm in Hadramout and Al-Mahra, and to preventing the delivery of any military support from any country to any Yemeni faction without coordination with the legitimate Yemeni government and the coalition, in order to support the Kingdom’s and the coalition’s efforts to achieve security and stability and prevent the expansion of the conflict.
