RIYADH

The Saudi-led Arab coalition early Friday destroyed four positions were allegedly used by Yemen's Houthi rebel group for preparing booby-trapped unmanned boats in Al-Hudaydah coastal city.

"The destroyed targets included four sites for the collection and booby-trapping of remote-controlled boats and marine mines," the coalition said in a statement.

The targeted sites were used to carry out "hostile and terrorist operations that threaten shipping lines and global trade in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and the Red Sea," it added.

The coalition also asserted that the Houthi group takes Al-Hudaydah as a launching point of ballistic missiles, drones and booby-trapped unmanned boats as well as marine mines.

For its part, Houthis-run Al-Masirah TV said the coalition launched four airstrikes in Al-Hudaydah province, violating UN-brokered talks in Sweden in December, which yielded a ceasefire agreement in the Red Sea province.

The Yemeni rivals have failed so far to implement that agreement.

On Thursday, the Saudi-led Arab coalition intercepted and destroyed, southern the Red Sea, an explosive-laden boat launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group from Yemen.

Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Houthi rebels besieged much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated the following year, when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen and supporting the country’s pro-Saudi government.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat