SANAA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels said they targeted a Saudi warship off Saudi Red Sea port city of Jizan on Saturday, Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported.
"The attack came in revenge for coalition attacks that targeted Yemeni fishermen in the Yemeni coasts and islands," the Houthis said in a statement reported by Saba.
The Houthi statement gave no further details. The Saudi-led coalition has not commented on the Houthi attack.
On Thursday, the pro-government almasdaronline news website reported that "an airstrike hit a fishing boat off the Yemeni island of Uqban, killing five fishermen and injuring two."
Saudi Arabia has warned of the ongoing threats of the Houthi militias on the freedom of navigation and global trade in the Red Sea, which could cause an environmental disaster if allowed to continue.
The Saudi government has been accusing Iran of supporting the Houthi rebels through the supply of weapons and missiles. Both Houthis and Iran denied the accusations.
The militias frequently respond to airstrikes by the coalition with missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, mainly its border cities. Most of them are intercepted by the air forces.
Yemen has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in the Yemeni war in 2015 to support the Yemeni elected government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The war has so far killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced about 3 million others.
