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Mokha Port hit
Houthi missile and drone attacks struck Yemen’s western coast on Sunday, killing at least eight people in the Red Sea port city of Mocha and other government-held areas, according to local sources.
“At least eight people were killed on Sunday”
A local medical source told Global Times that four civilians and four government military personnel were killed and about 32 other people wounded in Houthi strikes on government-held Mocha Port and surrounding areas in southwestern Taiz province.
Mocha port director Abdulmalik al-Sharabi said in a press statement that the Houthis launched dozens of drones at the facility, with about 25 striking economic facilities, employee housing and a customs hangar.
Yemen’s Transport Ministry said ballistic missiles and drones caused "severe damage" to the port's infrastructure, and it raised preparedness levels and reinforced emergency measures at ports, airports and land crossings in government-held areas.
The attacks came as Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on social media platform X that the group launched a large-scale attack with ballistic missiles and drones on troop gatherings and weapons depots of Saudi-backed forces in Mocha, causing "widespread destruction" of weapons and military equipment, and killing or wounding dozens of personnel, including Saudis.
Yemeni leaders trade threats
Yemeni Deputy Minister of Defense for Public Policy and International Cooperation Major General Samir Al-Subri accused the Houthi militias of seeking to drag Yemen into regional conflicts, saying their methodical attacks against civilian assets target the Yemeni people.
Al-Subri told Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath that the Houthis’ attacks come as part of attempts to drag the country into conflicts beyond its borders, while he said the army is working to protect the people and the country’s resources.
In parallel, the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad Mohammed al-Ailmi warned the Houthis that "the phase of attack without cost has ended," saying field and political equations have changed and the Yemeni armed forces have become more ready.
Al-Ailmi said the attack on the port of Mokha resulted in civilian casualties including women and children, and he described the strikes as hitting a maritime berth, service facilities, and cargo-handling cranes for goods and foodstuffs.
He added that the state will not allow militias to monopolize the decision to initiate confrontation, its timing, its place, and its magnitude, and then also monopolize the moment when it should stop.
Escalation risks wider war
As the fighting centered on al-Makha (Mocha) and other government-held areas, Yemen’s armed forces said at least seven people were killed and 30 others were wounded in a renewed missile and drone assault on Sunday evening, according to Al Jazeera.
“killing at least seven more people”
Al Jazeera reported that the military said air defences intercepted and shot down 11 drones involved in the attack, and that two ballistic missiles were also reported to have fallen into the sea without hitting their targets.
In a separate Al Jazeera report, Yemen’s internationally recognised government said Houthis fired six ballistic missiles at al-Makha on Friday, killing at least four people, while an unnamed military official told AFP that the strike killed at least eight people, including two security personnel.
The Houthis said the operation involved a large number of ballistic missiles and drones and was launched in response to an alleged continued Saudi military buildup, including reinforcement of allied forces with weapons and equipment along Yemen’s western coast and in Taiz province.
The escalation also intersected with regional diplomacy over the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States "corrects its behavior," and demanded the U.S. lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area.