Houthi attacks kill 11 in Yemen port, target Saudi oil refinery

The Story in Brief

Yemen's Houthi rebels killed at least 11 people, including three civilians, in missile and drone strikes on the port city of Mokha on Sunday, according to local medical sources. The attack came after the Houthis claimed a separate drone strike on a Saudi Aramco oil refinery in Jazan, which Saudi authorities said caused a fire but no casualties. The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said the refinery strike was retaliation for Saudi drone incursions into Yemen. A decade-long truce in Yemen's civil war collapsed last month, with fighting intensifying between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government. Mokha, a key Red Sea port near the Bab al-Mandab strait, has seen repeated Houthi attacks since the truce ended. The Saudi-led coalition has not commented on the refinery strike.

A separate report from the government-run Saba news agency put the death toll from the Mokha attack at seven, with 35 wounded, and said pro-government forces shot down 11 Houthi drones. The Houthis claimed to have destroyed Saudi military targets in Mokha, a claim denied by Yemeni government sources. The strikes damaged port facilities, commercial goods, and residential buildings, including near the Golden Star Hotel. The Houthis also attempted to target a nearby solar power station but were intercepted by air defences. The attack follows a period of relative calm after a United Nations-brokered truce expired last month, with both sides accusing each other of violations.