Saudi airstrikes struck two fishing boats off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday, killing at least eight fishermen, according to Yemeni media.
According to the SABA news agency, vessels were struck off the al-Kadha coast in the Dhubab district of Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an area that was under the control of Saudi-backed forces until Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, took the territroy as part of its lightning offensive last month.
Yemen’s Al Masirah TV aired footage that showed bodies and wreckage of small boats on the beach following the strikes. According to SABA, the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry of Yemen’s Ansar Allah-led government, based in Sanaa, described the “targeting of fishermen while working in coastal waters, pursuing and attacking them as they tried to escape, as a crime against civilians.”
The statement also “rejected claims by the Saudi-led coalition’s spokesman that traditional boats were being used to smuggle weapons, missiles and military equipment into Yemen, stressing that such allegations do not justify targeting civilian fishermen and their boats.”
The Sanaa-based Health Ministry said that the first strike targeted a fishing boat that was anchored near the shore and that the second strike “targeted the surviving fishermen as they attempted to escape in another boat, killing them all.”
A day earlier, Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, released footage that showed strikes on vessels he claimed were smuggling weapons, but so far there has been no statement from the coalition about Tuesday’s strikes.
The Saudi-led coalition was known for bombing fishing boats during the war from 2015 to 2022. Human Rights Watch reported in 2019 that since 2018, the coalition killed at least 47 Yemeni fishermen, including seven children.
Since Saudi Arabia reignited the war by launching airstrikes against the Sanaa International Airport in July, the renewed bombing campaign has had a devastating impact on Yemeni civilians, with at least 66 killed by airstrikes in September, according to the Yemen Data Project.
The Saudi air campaign in Yemen is supported by the US, which provides intelligence and targeting support, and is again refueling Saudi fighter jets involved in the war after ending such support eight years ago due to pressure from Congress.
