A fishing boat off the Red Sea port of al-Khoukha, Yemen, was attacked on Tuesday, causing catastrophic damage and killing nearly the entire crew. Only one person survived, with 18 others reported killed.
Relatives of the crew say that the boat was attacked by a naval frigate, believed to belong to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is leading a large naval blockade of Yemen, and has been for years, stopping ships and preventing deliveries to ports.
Saudi officials, however, claimed the reports were “baseless,” and that none of their frigates had attacked the boat. They also claimed the Houthis did it, though the Houthis have no frigates with which to carry out such an attack.
The report of al-Khoukha is on the coast of the Red Sea. The port is under the control of the UAE military, which makes it curious that any of the ships in the Saudi-led coalition would be targeting fishing boats out of the area.
“The Houthis did it!” is the imperial version of “Stop hittin’ yourself.”
I wish the Iranians really were arming those people. Somebody should f**king do something. The Saudis are rabid animals.
The Saudi REGIME may be rabid animals. The Saudi PEOPLE, no.
That’s what I meant. Your average Saudi is a victim of the same creature strangling babies in Yemen. I only wish more of them realized this. They seem as disconnected from the deeds of their nation as most Americans and Europeans are. Blissful ignorance has no color.
My limited experience of Saudi Arabia is that outside the openly political class (e.g. the royal family), they don’t seem to care much about politics, and are mostly religious in the same way that a Baptist whose wife makes him go to church on Sunday morning will sneak out back with a pint of whiskey on Sunday afternoon. In the Gulf War, they didn’t seem to have much of an opinion except that they liked the fact that there were Marines throwing around money on over-priced stuff and who had plenty of stuff to steal.
They sound like Yankees to me.