Seven people were killed Sunday when Houthi rebels launched missile and drone attacks on the port of Mokha in Yemen, near the Bab Al Mandeb strait, destroying recently restored infrastructure and civilian facilities in an escalation that threatens to deepen the humanitarian crisis in a country already devastated by twelve years of war.
Yemen's Transport Minister Mohsen Al Omari said the Mokha attack involved at least 25 projectiles and badly damaged economic zones, employee housing, warehouses, private fuel stations, storage tanks and other port facilities. A Yemeni military spokesman said the attack killed seven people, including civilians and military personnel, and involved the use of an explosive-laden boat. Parts of the dock and facilities used for servicing ships and unloading goods and livestock were damaged, he said, and the rebels also tried to destroy a solar power plant supplying electricity to Mokha but failed.
Civilians Caught Between Warring Sides
The Mokha strike came three days after more than 17 people were killed and many others wounded in a Houthi attack on the central province of Marib, a Yemeni official said. Three others were killed in strikes on areas hosting internally displaced civilians, the official said. Government sources said four days ago that dozens of Yemeni government troops had been killed in recent Houthi attacks. The exchanges mark a sharp escalation between the Houthis and the government after large-scale fighting between the two sides largely subsided following a 2022 ceasefire agreement four years ago.
The Houthis said earlier that they'd carried out a "large-scale" missile and drone operation against Saudi-backed troops and weapons depots in the Mokha area. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the operation involved a large number of ballistic missiles and drones and caused widespread destruction of weapons and military equipment and killed and wounded dozens of people, including Saudis. The Houthis said the attack was carried out in response to Saudi troop reinforcements and attacks on Yemen's western coast and Taiz province.
Red Sea Energy Infrastructure Under Fire
Earlier on Sunday, Saree said the Houthis had carried out a drone strike on an Aramco refinery complex in Jazan, southern Saudi Arabia, describing it as a "precise" attack. The group said the Jazan strike was in response to what it described as Saudi violations of Yemeni airspace over the Saada and Hajjah provinces. Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said a fire at the 400,000 barrel a day refinery on the kingdom's west coast was brought under control, with no injuries reported. Aramco's industrial firefighting teams extinguished the blaze at dawn, the ministry said, and authorities were completing procedures to deal with the incident without disclosing the cause of the fire.
The fire at Saudi Arabia's 400,000-barrel-per-day Jazan refinery was brought under control on Sunday, with no injuries reported. The blaze occurred less than two weeks after an alleged Houthi attack damaged the refinery's gasification complex and tank farm on 27 July. The Houthis have declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, citing the kingdom's alleged siege of Yemen, which Riyadh denies. Attacks on Red Sea shipping and Saudi oil infrastructure have raised concerns about deepening disruptions linked to broader regional conflict near the Strait of Hormuz.
Twelve Years of War
The Jazan refinery, on the Red Sea near the border with Yemen, has been attacked by the Houthis in recent weeks after they declared an "embargo" on Saudi ports and shipping in the Red Sea, saying it was in response to a Saudi "siege" on rebel-held areas of Yemen. Saudi Arabia led a regional coalition in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, twelve years ago in 2014.
The attack on Mokha came a day after government forces attacked the Houthis on several fronts in response to the rebels' recent strikes on government-held areas in central and eastern Yemen. The Houthis said they fired drones and missiles at troops linked to Saudi Arabia.
Why This Matters:
The collapse of the four-year-old ceasefire agreement and the targeting of civilian infrastructure in Mokha — including employee housing, fuel stations, and a solar power plant — illustrate how Yemen's humanitarian catastrophe continues to deepen with no political resolution in sight. The death toll includes both military personnel and civilians, with strikes hitting areas hosting internally displaced people who've already fled violence elsewhere in the country. The expansion of Houthi attacks to Saudi energy infrastructure and their declared Red Sea blockade threaten to widen a conflict that has already created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with millions facing famine and disease. The international community's failure to enforce the 2022 ceasefire or broker a lasting political settlement has left Yemeni civilians trapped between warring parties, neither of which appears willing to prioritize their safety over military objectives. Each new escalation makes the prospect of peace more distant and the human cost more unbearable.