ADEN, Yemen, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Forces loyal to Yemen's government on Wednesday announced capturing a boat loaded with weapons off the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
"A unit of the Coast Guard forces succeeded in seizing a boat loaded with various types of weapons on its way to the Houthi rebels," a local military official said on condition of anonymity.
He added that "the boat that is seized by our forces was smuggling weapons to the Iran-backed Houthis in Hodeidah through the Red Sea coasts."
"The crew of the boat were all Yemeni nationals and detained for more investigations to discover the main suppliers," he said.
The Yemeni official pointed out that "there is a clear rise in maritime smuggling operations, as the incident of seizing the weapons-loaded boat is the third during the past two weeks."
As the main Yemeni port city along the coast of the Red Sea, Hodeidah is the key lifeline entry of most Yemen's commercial imports and humanitarian aid.
The grinding war of more than five years has pushed over 20 million people to the verge of starvation.
The Iran-allied Houthi rebels control much of Hodeidah while the Saudi-backed government troops have advanced to its southeastern districts.
Yemen has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthis seized control of much of the country's north and forced the Saudi-backed government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of capital Sanaa. Enditem
