Houthis Claim Drone Strike on Aramco Refinery on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Coast
Attack on Jazan oil facility comes amid renewed Houthi strikes in Yemen’s Marib province and fears of a broader escalation
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said Sunday they had carried out a drone strike on an Aramco oil facility in Jazan on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, as renewed fighting in Yemen threatens to unravel a fragile truce and widen the conflict.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had "succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone," claiming the strike was precise.
He said the attack was carried out in response to what the Houthis described as Saudi incursions into territory in northwestern Yemen.
The claim comes amid a sharp escalation between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, particularly in the strategic and oil-rich province of Marib.
Pact faces early test
The Houthi attack also comes just two days after Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan signed a trilateral defense agreement in Mecca that commits the three countries to treating an armed attack against any one of them as an attack against all three.
The agreement has been described as a collective-defense arrangement modeled in part on NATO's mutual-defense principle. The timing of the latest Houthi strike on Saudi territory could provide an early test of the pact's practical significance.
Observers will be watching closely to see whether Türkiye and Pakistan view the Houthi attack as falling under the agreement's collective-defense provisions and, if so, what form any response might take.
The pact's implementation could carry significant implications for the regional security landscape, particularly if attacks on Saudi territory continue. Türkiye has said the agreement is aimed at regional stability and is not directed against Iran or any other specific country.
For now, however, it remains unclear whether the agreement would require a military response to a Houthi drone attack, leaving the latest strike as an early test of how the newly established security partnership translates from a political commitment into action.
Fighting intensifies in Marib
Houthi attacks in Marib on Friday killed at least 10 people, including eight members of government forces and two civilians, according to Yemeni officials and military sources.
A Yemeni military source told AFP that Houthi forces launched more than 10 missiles and seven one-way attack drones against military camps in Marib province.
Yemeni Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said Houthi shelling of residential neighborhoods and displacement camps in Marib city killed two civilians and wounded 14 others.
The Houthis said they had targeted a government military camp in the province.
Saree said the group had attacked Saudi-backed forces and their weapons depots, vehicles and military equipment at the Sahn al-Jinn camp with missiles and drones.
A source close to the Saudi military told AFP that the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government would not "stand idly by" in response to the attacks, describing Marib as a "red line."
The source said the coalition did not seek escalation but warned that Saudi Arabia would not accept a Houthi takeover of the province.
Truce under growing strain
The latest escalation follows the collapse last month of a 2022 truce between the Houthis and the Saudi-supported Yemeni government.
At least 58 government troops were killed in Houthi missile and drone attacks on Marib on Thursday, according to an army source.
The United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, warned that the country faces its greatest risk of renewed large-scale conflict since the UN-brokered truce of April 2022.
"Today, Yemen faces a greater risk of renewed large-scale conflict than at any point since the UN-brokered truce of April 2022," Grundberg said, calling on the parties to exercise restraint and return to good-faith negotiations.
Marib has remained a key battleground because of its strategic location and energy resources. The province is divided between Houthi forces and the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which controls Marib city as well as much of the area's oil fields and infrastructure.
The Houthis resumed their offensive toward Marib in 2021, but fighting largely subsided following the 2022 truce.
Yemen drawn deeper into regional conflict
The renewed violence comes as Yemen has become increasingly entangled in the wider confrontation between the United States and Iran.
The Tehran-backed Houthis have stepped up military activity following the breakdown of the truce, including attacks involving maritime traffic and Saudi-linked targets.
The group has also announced a maritime blockade targeting Saudi Arabia and carried out attacks on tankers.
Last month, Houthi forces killed 16 soldiers in an attack on government-aligned forces south of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, according to medical officials.
The latest claimed strike on the Jazan Aramco facility marks a further expansion of the confrontation beyond Yemen's borders and raises fresh concerns over the security of Saudi Arabia's critical energy infrastructure along the Red Sea coast.