It’s being reported by Reuter’s Phil Stewart that an oil tanker was just forced to defend itself against six small boats off the coast of Yemen. They fired warning shots at the skiffs at the attackers retreated.
Here’s the news:
A tanker has reported being approached by six small boats 50 nautical miles (93 km) south of Yemen’s Aden, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported on Monday, adding warning shots were fired by the tanker.
The British maritime security firm Ambrey later said that Automatic Identification System data indicated the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker initiated evasive maneuvers after the skiffs approached on its starboard side.
Ambrey reported that one skiff came very close to the tanker before its armed security team fired warning shots. The skiffs subsequently abandoned their pursuit, allowing the tanker to continue its voyage uninterrupted.
In likely unrelated news, Yemen has been a focal point today because of some interesting actions it took to prevent an Iranian plane filled with Houthis from landing at its international airport.
Via i24News reporter Ariel Oseran:
The Yemeni government announced that it had struck the runway of the Sana’a International Airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. This came after the Yemeni armed forces warned that they would respond to any violation of Yemeni airspace, and held Iran responsible for the escalation.
The Yemeni government expressed its willingness to resume civilian flights via Yemen Airways and facilitate the transfer of the Houthi delegation, which traveled to Tehran to attend the funeral of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, back to Sanaa on a plane it had chartered. The Houthis rejected this initiative and sent their delegation back to Sana’a on board an Iranian plane.
Earlier, the chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, warned during a meeting with the Russian ambassador to Yemen, Yevgeny Kudrov, against turning Sana’a airport into a hub for Iranian flights.
Al-Alimi stressed that the Houthis’ rejection of the government’s initiative to operate flights via the national airline or to charter a plane to transport the Houthis from Tehran proves their use of Sana’a airport is for military rather than civilian purposes.
The first public arrival of an Iranian plane at Sana’a Airport in almost ten years sparked tensions between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, which threatened to respond to any attempt to prevent planes from reaching Sana’a.
At around 2:00 pm local time, as the Iranian plane was making its way to Sana’a from Iran, a wave of strikes began at Sana’a Airport. The Houthis and Al-Jazeera claimed they were carried out by Saudi forces.
The plane did not land in Sana’a and landed about an hour later at Hodeidah Airport, an area also under Houthi control.