Yemeni government forces down Houthi drone, destroy bomb-laden boat

Yemeni government-aligned forces said on Saturday that they shot down a Houthi drone near the Saudi border and destroyed a bomb-laden boat in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Air defenses operated by the 3rd Division of Yemen’s Emergency Forces intercepted the drone as it approached the Al-Wadiah border area in the eastern Hadhramaut province, the division said in a statement on US social media company X.

The statement, citing an unnamed military source, said the drone was heading toward areas populated by residents and displaced people before air defense units engaged it remotely.

The drone was brought down before reaching its target, with no casualties or damage reported, the source added.

The Emergency Forces “continue to perform their duties in protecting the area and confronting any threats or hostile attempts targeting the security and stability of the border regions,” the source said.

Al-Wadiah hosts Yemen’s main land crossing with Saudi Arabia.

Separately, the government-aligned National Resistance Forces said their naval units destroyed a Houthi bomb-laden boat in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, according to the 2 December news portal.

The group’s military media provided no further details.

The Yemeni army later said Yahya al-Warqi, one of its military commanders, was killed in clashes with Houthi fighters.

The army did not specify when or where Warqi was killed.​​​​​​​

The Houthis issued no immediate comment on either incident.

Led by Presidential Leadership Council member Tareq Saleh, the National Resistance Forces are headquartered in the Red Sea port city of Mocha and deployed along Yemen’s western coast in areas of Taiz and Al-Hudaydah provinces.

​​​​​​​Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa and several provinces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in support of the internationally recognized government in March 2015.