Houthi Strikes Kill 11 in Yemen as Saudi Oil Facility Targeted

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed at least 11 people in strikes on the Yemeni port city of Mokha on Sunday, including three civilians and eight military personnel, a medical source told AFP.

The source said 32 people were also wounded, including six civilians, with civilian casualties resulting from strikes on Mokha's port. Two government military sources earlier reported at least eight troops killed and more than 40 wounded.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group targeted Saudi-backed forces and military equipment in the area with missiles and drones. He also claimed responsibility for an earlier drone attack on an oil facility operated by Saudi state-owned Saudi Aramco on the Red Sea coast.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said it had extinguished a fire at the Jazan facility. Saree said the attack was retaliation for alleged Saudi drone incursions into northwestern Yemen.

The government military sources said the Houthis launched several waves of missile and drone attacks against Mokha and other positions, including sites on islands near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key shipping chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

Residents reported hearing multiple explosions over the port and city as air defenses responded to the attacks.

The escalation comes after a years-long truce between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government appeared to collapse last month. The developments have coincided with heightened regional tensions and the Houthi announcement of a maritime blockade targeting Saudi Arabia, alongside Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks threaten to further disrupt shipping and energy infrastructure in the Red Sea as the wider Middle East conflict continues.