Announcing the move, Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said that while it was for the World Court to decide whether genocide is being committed
"The naval base was bombed by aircraft and ships. Large parts of it were destroyed and two warships were hit, and one of them, named Bilqis, was destroyed and sank onto its side, and five gunboats shelled the administrative buildings of the base," the official told Reuters by telephone from the city.
The city and its military bases are aligned with the Iran-allied Houthi militia, Yemen's dominant force, which has been bombed by a Saudi-led coalition for over two months.