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Mokha Port Hit
Iran-backed Houthis attacked Yemen’s al-Mokha port with missiles and drones, and the strikes also hit nearby residential areas in Taiz Governorate near the Bab al-Mandab strait.
“seven dead and 30 others injured”
Yemen’s Minister of Health Qasem Baisha said the attack left seven dead and 30 others injured, while a military source for government forces said the dead included civilians and military personnel.
The Yemeni Armed Forces said they thwarted a “treacherous terrorist attempt” involving a remotely controlled explosive boat aimed at the commercial port’s wharf, adding that they destroyed it successfully.
Al Jazeera’s Yemen affairs editor Ahmed al-Shalfi said the director of al-Mukha port confirmed that “the port and civilian areas inside it were subjected to targeting,” and he described the attack as part of reciprocal strikes after government forces announced attacks targeting Houthi sites and fronts the previous day.
Competing Death Tolls
Different outlets and sources gave different casualty figures for the al-Mokha port attack, with Al Araby Al-Jadid citing three civilians and eight soldiers killed and 15 others wounded.
Al Araby Al-Jadid also reported that air defenses repelled the attacks and shot down 11 Houthi drones participating in the shelling since noon on Sunday.
In a separate framing, Anadolu Ajansı reported that Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad al-Alimi called the attack an “extension of Iranian escalation” against economic facilities and maritime routes.
Anadolu Ajansı said Alimi met the new US chargé d’affaires to Yemen, Neil Hope, and described the Houthis’ actions as “a systematic war on the resources of the Yemeni people, their lifelines and economic outlets.”
Regional Shipping Stakes
Yemen’s internationally recognized government’s Ministry of Transport condemned the al-Mokha port attack as a “blatant violation of international laws and norms,” emphasizing the port’s economic and navigational importance near the Bab al-Mandab strait.
“a “blatant violation of international laws and norms””
The same Al-Quds Al-Arabi account said the Houthis’ operation used ballistic missiles and unmanned aircraft and that the Resistance air defenses reportedly shot down 11 drones participating in the bombardment.
Anadolu Ajansı reported that Alimi urged the US and the international community to move “from merely containing the Houthi threat to addressing its sources and tools,” while strengthening the Yemeni government’s capacity.
The AP News account said the Houthi strikes on a government-held Red Sea port deepened fears over threats to strategic shipping routes and a potential return to civil war, after a 2022 truce had stopped major fighting for years.
