Houthi rebels destroy Saudi warship off Yemen coast

The attack was filmed and broadcast on the rebel-controlled al-Masirah television channel before surfacing across social media platforms online.   

"A Saudi frigate on patrol west of the port city of Hodeida was hit by a terrorist attack from three suicide boats belonging to the Houthi militias," Saudi state media said, according to Reuters.

In October, Houthi rebels also targeted a US navy vessel on the Red Sea, just several miles north of the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, but the missile attack was intercepted.

Weeks earlier, an Emirati vessel that was allegedly returning from delivering medical aid to Aden was also hit by rebel missiles.

“Rockets targeted an Emirati warship as it approached the coast of Mokha” on the Red Sea, a Houthi statement carried by SABA news said at the time.

 “It was completely destroyed,” the statement claimed.

Forces supporting President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi - backed by the Saudi-led coalition - launched a vast offensive on to retake rebel-held cities along the coastline, overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Houthi forces had controlled Mokha since they overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced on other regions aided by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

But airstrikes by coalition warplanes hit rebel supplies along the route between Mokha and Hodeida.

More than 10,000 people, half of which civilians, have been killed since the two year conflict escalated with the Saudi-led coalition intervention to push back Houthi rebels in March 2015.