Houthis claim missile, drone attacks on Saudi-backed forces in western Yemen’s Mocha

Sanaa: Yemen’s Houthi group claimed Sunday it launched a large-scale attack on Saudi-backed forces in the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha in western Yemen’s Taiz Province.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement on social media platform X that the operation targeted troop gatherings and weapons depots in the Mocha area with “a large number of ballistic missiles and drones”/

Shortly before the announcement, an anonymous local government official told Xinhua that the Houthis fired several missiles at the port, targeting what he described as “civilian areas” inside the facility.

Residents in Mocha told Xinhua that several explosions were heard from the direction of the port, with smoke rising over the area following the strikes.

Mocha, in western Yemen’s Taiz province, is located along the Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategically important waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a major route for international shipping.

The port and surrounding coastal areas are controlled by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The attack came amid a sharp escalation of tensions in Yemen in recent days, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks against government forces in the eastern provinces of Marib and Hadramout.

Earlier in the day, the group also said that it launched a drone attack on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern city of Jazan, as tensions between the two sides continue to escalate.

Sarea said in a statement posted on X that the drone struck the refinery in what he described as a “precise” attack.

He said the operation was carried out in retaliation for what the Houthis described as Saudi drone incursions into the airspace of Saada and Hajjah, two Houthi-held provinces in northern Yemen along the border with Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis did not provide evidence of the attack or details about any possible damage or casualties.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said that industrial security firefighting teams of Saudi Aramco had extinguished a fire at one of the facilities of the Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, with no injuries reported.

IANS