• New photos and video show the aftermath of an alleged torpedo attack on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman.
• The oil tanker was evacuated on Thursday after catching fire. The company which chartered the ship said they believe it was hit by a torpedo.
• The ship was one of two that was allegedly attacked. Both have been evacuated.
• The photos show the ship on fire and covered in ash, with smoke billowing into the sky.

Photos and video of the aftermath of an alleged torpedo attack show flames, ash, and charring on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman.

The imagery shows the Front Altair, a tanker owned by the Norwegian company Frontline.

It is not clear exactly what happened to leave the tanker so badly damaged. It had been chartered by Taiwan’s state oil refining company, CPC, which said the ship was “suspected of being hit by a torpedo.”

Press TV, a broadcaster funded by the government of Iran, posted aerial footage of the fire to Twitter on Thursday afternoon.

Still images, credited to Iran’s ISNA news agency and distributed by the Associated Press, show the now-abandoned ship in flames. Its crew was evacuated after the incident began.

Around half of its starboard side can be seen with fire damage. Its bridge, usually white, was blackened on one side. According to the Reuters news agency, the ship was carrying 75,000 tonnes of petrochemicals.

Undated archive photos of the ship shared by Frontline show how the ship looked before the alleged attack:

This photo shows the fire from another angle:

The ship is one of two that was allegedly attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.

An anonymous US defense official told CBS News that it was “highly likely Iran caused these attacks.”

Read more: Oil is surging after a suspected torpedo attack on 2 tankers in the Gulf of Oman

The second ship was the Kokuka Courageous, operated by Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement. It was also evacuated. The company said that the hull was damaged and one crew member was “slightly injured.”

The ship’s manager told Reuters the ship was damaged in a “suspected attack.”

The incidents have caused the price of oil to surge as the ships were in a significant oil transportation route that has seen increased tensions between US tankers and Iran.

The US last month accused Iran of attacking its oil tankers in the region, but Iran denies any involvement.

Read the full story of the apparent attacks here. </s> • An oil tanker is on fire after it was hit by apparent attacks in the Gulf of Oman.
• A tanker owned by Norwegian company Frontline is on fire and the company that chartered the ship said it is “suspected of being hit by a torpedo,” but Frontline said that the crew is safe.
• A second tanker, also damaged in a “suspected attack,” has been evacuated, with one person injured.
• The US and UK Navies are responding to the incidents in the waters off Iran, an important oil-carrying route that has seen tensions between Iran and US tankers.

A photo shows an oil tanker on fire off the coast of Iran after two oil tankers in the region were hit by unexplained attacks.

The image, published by Iranian state media, shows the burning Front Altair, a tanker owned by Norwegian company Frontline that has now been evacuated.

Frontline told Reuters on Thursday that the shop was on fire but that its crew had been rescued. It denied reports that the ship sank.

Taiwan’s state oil refiner CPC, which had chartered the ship, said that it was “suspected of being hit by a torpedo.”

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement also told Reuters that a second tanker, the Kokuka Courageous was damaged, in a “suspected attack.”

The company said in a statement said that the 21 crew members “abandoned ship” after the ship’s hull was damaged. One cew member was “slightly injured,” it said.

Read more: Oil is surging after a suspected torpedo attack on 2 tankers in the Gulf of Oman

It said that the ship, which is 14 nautical miles from Iran’s coast, is “remains in the area and is not in any danger of sinking.” The methanol it was transporting, which is a flammable substance, is “intact,” it said.

The company said it has “launched a full-scale emergency response.”

A US Navy fleet said it was aware of a “reported attack” on the vessells after it recieved two separate distress calls. It said its ships are “in the area and rendering assistance.” Reuters reported that a part of the UK’s Royal Navy said it was investigating.

Oil prices are rising after the incident.

A source told Reuters that the Bernhard Schulte tanker may have been hit by a mine.

The US claimed earlier in June that Iran attacked four oil tankers with limpet mines, but Iran denies the charge.

The Gulf of Oman leads to the Strait of Hormuz, which is shared by Iran and Oman and where a third of the world’s oil passes through.

US ships travel through the area, though Iran has threatened to close it off and tensions have flared between the two countries with reports that oil tankers are being targeted. </s> (CNN) Four ships were targeted on Sunday near the strategic Emirati port of Fujairah, in what the UAE described as a "sabotage attack." One was flying a UAE flag, and another the Norwegian flag. The other two were tankers owned by Saudi Arabia, which described the incident as a threat to the security of global oil supplies.

There were no injuries or deaths, according to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. It did not elaborate on the nature of the alleged sabotage, or offer any indication as to who might be responsible.

Tensions have risen in the oil-rich region in recent weeks amid the deployment of a growing number of United States military assets to the Middle East, due to deteriorating relations with Iran

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said Monday that the incidents were "alarming and regrettable," and requested further information on the alleged sabotage. He also warned against "plots by ill-wishers to disrupt regional security" and called for "vigilance of regional states in the face of any adventurism by foreign elements."

Several US officials are cautioning there is no final conclusion on how the ships were damaged. One US official pointed out the lack of detail from the UAE and Saudi Arabia about how the ships were damaged.

In a tweet, Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said investigations in the incident were ongoing but that the government had its "own readings and conclusions."

"The international community (needs to) assume its responsibilities to prevent any parties trying to undermine the security and safety of maritime traffic," the ministry said.

What we know

The incident took place near UAE territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman, east of the emirate of Fujairah, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said. The ministry added that authorities were working with local and international bodies to investigate the incident, which it described as a "dangerous development."

Images that CNN captured of the Norwegian tanker, Andrea Victory, show damage sustained to the hull of the vessel. In a statement Monday, Thome Ship Management, which manages the ship, confirmed it suffered hull damage after being struck by an unknown object at the waterline and said that it was not in any danger of sinking.

One of the Saudi vessels was on its way to be loaded with Saudi crude oil from the port of Ras Tanura, to be delivered to customers in the US, Saudi Arabia's state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Monday. While the agency didn't mention casualties or oil spills, it did say there had been "significant damage to the structures of the two vessels."

On Monday, the UAE formally asked the US for technical assistance in assessing the vessels' damage, according to a US official. The US experts will look at the damage patterns, try to recover any material from the site, and determine if some kind of missile or weapon hit the ships.

A Monday photo shows the oil tanker "Amjad," one of two Saudi-owned vessels Riyadh says were sabotaged.

Rumblings about Iran

Last week, the US Maritime Administration issued an advisory that "Iran or its proxies" could be targeting commercial vessels and oil production infrastructure in the region. The warning followed Iran's announcement that it was partially withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal , the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the US itself unilaterally exited one year ago.

US Air Force F-15s and F-35s, along with B-52 bombers, are now flying visible air patrols over the Persian Gulf, according to a US official, who said that the flights were designed to demonstrate to both Iran and US allies that US forces are in a deterrence mode.

Several officials say that the US is continuing to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) flights in the Middle East.

Also on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled a planned visit to Moscow on Monday and flew to Brussels for talks on Iran with his counterparts from the UK, Germany, France.

Asked later that day if the US was going to war with Iran and if the US was seeking regime change there, Trump said, "We'll see what happens with Iran."

The Strait of Hormuz: A strategic passage

Iran borders the Persian Gulf (also known as the Arabian Gulf) and the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important waterway

The US Energy Information Administration calls the Strait of Hormuz "the world's most important oil transit chokepoint," with an estimated 20% of oil traded worldwide moving through the channel, which is about 30 miles wide at its narrowest point.

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih described the incident as a deliberate attempt to "undermine the freedom of maritime navigation, and the security of oil supplies to consumers all over the world."

A senior source at Saudi Arabia's ministry of energy told CNN that the attacks were particularly alarming because the tankers were targeted outside the Strait of Hormuz.

UAE denied earlier reports

The accusations of sabotage come less than 24 hours after the UAE government denied reports alleging that seven oil tankers were involved in an explosion in the port of Fujairah on Sunday morning.

The reports were carried first by Lebanon's pro-Hezbollah Al-Mayadeen satellite channel and later picked up by Iran's state-owned Press TV and other outlets.

"The operations at the port are going as normal," a statement from the Emirates News Agency said Sunday. "Media outlets must be responsible and rely on official sources."

The "Al-Marzoqah" tanker belongs to the privately-owned Dubai-based Red Sea Marine Services firm, which was established in Jeddah in 1987.

In a statement Sunday, the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned those reported "sabotage operations," with council General Secretary Abdul Latif bin Rashid al-Zayani calling the incident a "dangerous escalation (that) speaks of the evil intentions" of whoever carried out the attack. </s> Karim Sahib, AFP | An Emirati man looks on at the port of Fujairah in the Gulf Emirate, on May 13, 2019.

Two oil tankers were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman and the crews have been evacuated, shipping firms and industry sources said on Thursday, a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were struck.

The Bahrain-based US Navy Fifth Fleet said it was assisting the tankers after receiving distress calls following "reported attacks". The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, part of the Royal Navy, said it was investigating.

Details of the incident were not immediately clear, but one operator said it suspected its ship had been hit by a torpedo. Another shipping firm said its vessel was on fire in the Gulf of Oman.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported that Iran’s navy had rescued 44 crew members from the tankers, and had transferred them to the port of Jask.

Oil prices surged by 4 percent after the report that has stoked tensions in the region that have already been heightened by attacks last month on Gulf oil assets amid a dispute between Iran and the United States over Tehran's nuclear programme.

The Gulf of Oman lies at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil consumption passes from Middle East producers.

There was no immediate confirmation from authorities in Oman or the United Arab Emirates, in whose territorial waters four tankers were hit last month. An investigation said limpet mines were used. US and Saudi officials blamed Iran for the May attack, a charge Tehran has denied.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said the attacks on oil assets in the Gulf posed a risk to global oil supplies and regional security.

On Thursday Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said tanker Kokuka Courageous was damaged in a "suspected attack" that breached the hull above the water line while on passage from Saudi Arabia to Singapore.

"The ship is safely afloat," it said in a statement.

Taiwan's CPC said tanker Front Altair, carrying 75,000 tonnes of naptha, was "suspected of being hit by a torpedo" around 0400 GMT. Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data showed the Front Altair, an Aframax vessel owned by Norway's Frontline, had loaded naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, and was in waters between Oman and Iran, carrying its cargo from Ruwais in the UAE to aiwan.

Frontline said its vessel was on fire in the Gulf of Oman.

The sources said crews from both vessels, which they had said had been struck in international waters, had been safely evacuated.

One shipping broker said there had been an explosion "suspected from an outside attack" that may have involved a magnetic mine on the Kokuka.

"All crew safely abandoned the vessel and were picked up by Vessel Coastal Ace. Kokuka Courageous is adrift without any crew on board,” the source said.

Another source said the Front Altair reported a fire caused by a "surface attack" and that the crew had been picked up by nearby vessel Hyundai Dubai. </s> Two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz were damaged in suspected attacks on Thursday, an assault that left one ablaze and adrift as sailors were evacuated from both vessels and the U.S. Navy rushed to assist amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The Navy and the ship's owners offered no immediate explanation on what weapon caused the damage to the MT Front Altair and the Kokuka Courageous in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Iran, though all believed the ships had been targeted in an attack.

It marks the latest mysterious incident to target the region's oil tankers. The U.S. alleged that Iran used limpet mines to attack four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah last month. Iran has denied being involved, but it comes as Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen also have launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile in Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that while Tehran doesn't seek nuclear weapons, "America could not do anything" to stop Iran if it did.

The comments came during a one-on-one meeting capping Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's high-stakes visit in Tehran that sought to ease Iran-U.S. tensions, suggested the efforts had failed.

Benchmark Brent crude spiked at one point by as much 4% in trading following the suspected attack, to over $62 a barrel, highlighting how crucial the area remains to global energy supplies. A third of all oil traded by sea passes through the strait, which is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Cmdr. Joshua Frey, a 5th Fleet spokesman, said the U.S. Navy was assisting the two vessels that he described as being hit in a "reported attack." He did not say how the ships were attacked or who was suspected of being behind the assault.

Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence firm, preliminarily identified one of the vessels involved as the MT Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker. The vessel was "on fire and adrift," Dryad added. It did not offer a cause for the incident or mention the second ship.

The firm that operates the Front Altair told The Associated Press that an explosion was the cause of the fire onboard. International Tanker Management declined to comment further saying they are still investigating what caused the explosion. Its crew of 23 is safe after being evacuated by the nearby Hyundai Dubai vessel, it said.

The second vessel was identified as the Kokuka Courageous. BSM Ship Management said it sustained hull damage and 21 sailors had been evacuated, with one suffering minor injuries. Iranian state television said 44 sailors from the two tankers have been transferred to an Iranian port in the southern province of Hormozgan.

The timing of Thursday's suspected attack was especially sensitive as Abe's high-stakes diplomacy mission was underway in Iran. Japan's Trade Ministry said the two vessels had "Japan-related cargo."

On Wednesday, after talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Abe warned that any "accidental conflict" that could be sparked amid the heightened U.S.-Iran tensions must be avoided.

His message came just hours after Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi airport, striking its arrivals hall before dawn and wounding 26 people Wednesday.

A statement published by Khamenei's website after Abe's meeting Thursday with the supreme leader suggested a tense exchange between the two.

"We have no doubt about your good will and seriousness, but ... I don't regard Trump as deserving any exchange of messages," Khamenei reportedly told Abe.

Khamenei also said Iran remained opposed to building atomic weapons, but offered a challenge to Trump.

"You should know that if we planned to produce nuclear weapons, America could not do anything," said Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state in Iran's Shiite theocracy.

In Tokyo, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, a top government spokesman, told reporters that Abe's trip was intended to help de-escalate Mideast tensions — not specifically mediate between Tehran and Washington. His remarks were apparently meant to downplay and lower expectations amid uncertain prospects for Abe's mission.

Tensions have escalated in the Mideast as Iran appears poised to break the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord that the Trump administration pulled out of last year.

Iran's nuclear deal, reached in 2015 by China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the U.S., saw Tehran agree to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crippling sanctions. Western powers feared Iran's atomic program could allow it to build nuclear weapons, although Iran long has insisted its program was for peaceful purposes.

In withdrawing from the deal last year, Trump pointed to the accord not limiting Iran's ballistic missile program and not addressing what American officials describe as Tehran's malign influence across the wider Middle East. Those who struck the deal at the time described it as a building block toward further negotiations with Iran, whose Islamic government has had a tense relationship with America since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and subsequent hostage crisis.

Already, Iran says it quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium. Meanwhile, U.S. sanctions have cut off opportunities for Iran to trade its excess uranium and heavy water abroad, putting Tehran on course to violate terms of the nuclear deal regardless.

Aya Batrawy in Dubai, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report </s> U.S. Releases Video of Alleged Gulf of Oman Tanker Attacks by Sam LaGrone – USNI News

U.S. Central Command has released a video and photographs that officials say prove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy attacked two merchant tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.

As a result, the U.S. is sending a second warship to the vicinity of the two merchant vessels that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, U.S. Central Command said.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87) is joining U.S. forces assisting a merchant tanker that has been abandoned by its crew after suffering damage from what U.S. officials are calling a deliberate attack.

Earlier Thursday, the crew of destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) rescued the crew of a tanker that was allegedly attacked in the Gulf of Oman, officials told USNI News on Thursday afternoon.

“Twenty-one mariners from the M/V Kokuka Courageous, who abandoned ship, were rescued and are currently aboard USS Bainbridge,” according to U.S. Central Command spokesman Army Lt. Col. Earl Brown.

“Bainbridge remains in close contact with the M/V Kokuka Courageous and is the on-scene U.S. command authority. No interference with USS Bainbridge, or its mission, will be tolerated.”… </s> Oil Tankers Attacked Near Oman Are Now in U.A.E. Waters

(Bloomberg) -- Damaged oil tankers that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday are now near the United Arab Emirates ports of Kalba and Fujairah.
• Front Altair arrived in the early hours of Monday morning, according to tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Operator Frontline said it would assess the vessel’s condition and consider a ship-to-ship transfer of its cargo.
• Kokuka Courageous was towed by the USS Bainbridge to the same area on Saturday, according to a Fifth Fleet spokesman and the data.

The attacks have heightened fears of more assaults on commercial vessels after four ships were targeted off the coast of the United Arab Emirates last month. The U.S. deployed naval and air force assets to the region in response to the elevated risk.

Iranian forces were likely responsible for Thursday’s strikes, according to a report from DNK, the insurer of one of the ships. The Norwegian insurer raised its risk assessment for the region and said anti-ship missiles fired from a naval asset were probably used in the attacks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Verity Ratcliffe in Dubai at vratcliffe1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nayla Razzouk at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net, Mohammed Aly Sergie </s> DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The U.S. Navy on Sunday began investigating a possible overnight missile attack from Yemen on a group of American warships in the Red Sea amid uncertainty about what transpired.

The Red Sea and the nearby strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, a crucial chokepoint for international shipping and crude oil, has been the scene of what the U.S. describes as at least two missile attacks from rebel-held territory in Yemen. American forces have fired back once with Tomahawk missiles, destroying mobile radar positions in the first shots fired by the U.S. in anger in the stalemated conflict.

In the latest incident, a group of American warships in the Red Sea on Saturday night "had indications of a possible inbound missile threat and deployed appropriate defensive measures," said Capt. Paula Dunn, a spokeswoman for U.S. Navy Forces Central Command. She said in a statement that all ships and sailors were safe, without elaborating.

An American defense official told The Associated Press on Sunday that one of the ships saw on radar what sailors believed to be missiles being fired on it out of Yemen at night. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the incident not yet made public.

Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies did not immediately comment on the incident Saturday. Previously, the Houthi-controlled SABA news agency ran dispatches denying rebels ever fired on American warships.

Adm. John Richardson, the Navy's top officer, said earlier Saturday the destroyer USS Mason appeared "to have come under attack." The Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer whose home port is Norfolk, Virginia, has been targeted twice before by missile fire out of Yemen, according to the U.S. Navy.

Also known to be in the Red Sea near the Mason are the USS Nitze and the USS Ponce.

Previously, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area as the Mason and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

Yemen has been at war since September 2014, when the Houthis swept into the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab nations launched a campaign against the Houthis in March 2015.

Yemen's war is largely overshadowed by the conflict against the Islamic State group elsewhere in the Middle East, though rights groups have mounted increased criticism of the Saudi-led airstrikes in recent months for killing civilians. The U.N. and rights groups estimate the conflict has killed at least 9,000 people and displaced nearly 3 million more.

The U.S. had been providing logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, but had begun to withdraw its support in recent weeks over the civilian casualties from its air campaign. </s> DUBAI: Two damaged tankers arrived safely Sunday to locations off the Emirati coast after they were rocked by explosions in Gulf waters, in an incident Saudi Arabia blamed on its regional arch-rival Iran.The Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous was carrying highly flammable methanol through the Gulf of Oman on Thursday when it came under attack along with the Norwegian-operated Front Altair -- the second assault in a month in the strategic shipping lane.US President Donald Trump has said the operation had Iran "written all over it" -- rejecting Tehran's vehement denial -- and its key Gulf ally Saudi Arabia has also lashed out against Tehran.In his first public comments since the attacks, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in remarks published Sunday that he would not hesitate to tackle any threats to the oil-rich kingdom."We do not want a war in the region... But we won't hesitate to deal with any threat to our people, our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our vital interests," he told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat He said Iran had responded to a visit to Tehran by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "by attacking two tankers, one of which was Japanese".Abe had been on an unprecedented visit to the Iranian capital in a bid to defuse tensions between Washington and the Islamic Republic when the attacks took place.The US military on Friday released grainy footage it said showed an Iranian patrol boat removing an "unexploded limpet mine" from the Japanese vessel.The crew of the Kokuka Courageous saw a "flying object" before a second blast on board, the operator's head said Friday.The vessel's Singapore-based BSM Ship Management said in a statement Sunday that it had "arrived safely at the designated anchorage" and that its crew were "safe and well".A damage assessment and preparations for transferring the ship's cargo would start once authorities had completed "security checks and formalities", it added.The other ship, the Front Altair, was under safe tow by tug boats towards an area off the coast of the eastern Emirati port of Fujairah."First inspections are under way and no hot spots have been identified following the fire," the vessel's owners said in a statement Sunday.It said all crew members were in Dubai, where they will "assist with the debrief to the owner's legal team and the appropriate authorities, before returning home".The UAE's foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday called on world powers "to secure international navigation and access to energy", a plea echoed by regional ally Saudi Arabia after the incident sent crude prices soaring.Thursday's attacks took place southeast of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital corridor connecting the energy-rich states of the Middle East with markets in Asia, Europe, North America and elsewhere.According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), 35 per cent of the world's seaborne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz.Iran, which is struggling with crippling US sanctions, has repeatedly warned in the past that it could block the Strait in a relatively low-tech, high-impact countermeasure to any attack by the United States.Doing so would disrupt oil tankers travelling out of the Gulf region to the Indian Ocean and global export routes.Iran's parliament speaker said Sunday that Washington could have been behind the "suspicious" tanker attacks, the official news agency IRNA reported."The suspicious actions against the tankers... seem to complement the economic sanctions against Iran, considering that (the US) has not achieved any results from them," he told MPs.Pope Francis said Sunday he was following "with concern" the growing tensions in the Gulf.He appealed "to the international community to pursue every possible effort to promote dialogue and peace".The Saudi crown prince also accused "Iran and its proxies" over May 12 attacks on four tankers anchored in the Gulf of Oman off the UAE port of Fujairah.Attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-aligned Yemeni rebels have further fuelled tensions in the region.On Friday, the kingdom intercepted five drones launched by the Huthi rebels, a Riyadh-led coalition said, in a second assault on an airport in the country's southwest in two days.The drones targeted Abha airport, where a rebel missile on Wednesday left 26 civilians wounded, and the nearby city of Khamis Mushait, which houses a major airbase, the coalition said.A Yemeni rebel drone targeting Abha was also intercepted Saturday, but it caused no casualties or damage.The rebels, who have faced persistent coalition bombing since March 2015 that has exacted a heavy civilian death toll, have stepped up missile and drone attacks across the border in recent weeks and warned that coalition airports were valid targets.Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia would "not accept the presence of militias on its borders".Riyadh has repeatedly accused Tehran of arming the rebels with sophisticated weapons, a charge the Islamic republic denies.
USS Devastator is damaged by fire while at a Bahrain dock.