JEDDAH: A Saudi warship targeted by Yemeni rebel “suicide” boats re­turned to its home port in Jeddah on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s national news agency said.

“The frigate, which was attacked by the Houthi militia while on patrol in the Red Sea, has returned to Jeddah as planned,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia said last week that two sailors were killed and three wounded when battleship Al-Madinah was hit by a Yemeni rebel “suicide” boat strike off the Red Sea port of Hodeida. The Houthi rebels said they hit the ship with a guided missile.

The United States has since deployed the USS Cole to the Bab Al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, according to a US defence official.

Seventeen US military personnel were killed aboard the USS Cole in an attack in the Yemeni port city of Aden in October 2000 claimed by Al Qaeda.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition launched a military campaign against the Houthi rebels in March 2015 as the insurgents closed in on Presi­dent Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Aden, forcing him into exile. More than 7,400 Yemenis have since been killed, most of them civilians, according to the World Health Orga­nisation.

At least 113 Saudis have been killed in skirmishes or rocket strikes along the border with Yemen since the coalition campaign began.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2017