Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels struck a government-held port on the country’s Red Sea coast late Sunday, escalating fears over threats to strategic shipping routes and a potential return to civil war.
The Yemeni military said seven people including military personnel and civilians were killed and 30 others wounded in a Houthi attack on the Red Sea port city of Mocha as well as civilian infrastructure and armed forces.
"Four members of the armed forces and three civilians have been killed, and 30 others injured," the Yemeni military said in a statement early on Monday.
Air defences intercepted and shot down 11 Houthi drones that participated in the attack, the military said. Footage shown by Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV showed the launch of several ballistic missiles and drones, which Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a post on Telegram targeted Saudi troop concentrations and weapons depots.
Read moreHouthi rebels kill dozens of Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces
The Yemeni military said the Houthi attacks had also targeted residential neighbourhoods in Mocha.
The attack on Mocha is the latest in one of the largest waves of Houthi strikes on Yemeni military positions and areas held by the Saudi-backed government since a 2022 truce. It comes as threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait at its southern tip. Some shipping has shifted toward that route with Hormuz largely off limits to traffic.
The Houthis also declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month in response to what they said was a Saudi siege on them in Yemen, an allegation denied by Riyadh, which backs Yemen's internationally recognised government.
The Yemeni rebel group said they had attacked Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery on Sunday, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Sunni Muslim allies Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the US-Israeli war on Shiite Iran.
The Saudi energy ministry said a fire had broken out at the refinery but was later extinguished with no injuries, without giving a cause.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the new alliance was not directed against Iran or any other country, but rather served as a general pledge to support security.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AP)
