Sanaa, August 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Yemen’s Houthi group on Sunday claimed it had launched a large-scale missile and drone attack against Saudi-backed forces in the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha in Taiz province.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the operation targeted troop concentrations and weapons depots in the Mocha area using “a large number of ballistic missiles and drones”.
The claim came shortly after an anonymous local government official told Xinhua that several missiles had been fired at the port, allegedly targeting civilian areas within the facility. Residents reported hearing multiple explosions from the direction of the port, with smoke subsequently visible over the area.
Mocha lies on Yemen’s Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategically important maritime passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a major route for international shipping. Forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government control the port and surrounding coastal areas.
The reported attack comes amid heightened tensions in Yemen, with the Houthis also claiming missile and drone operations against government forces in the eastern provinces of Marib and Hadramout.
Earlier on Sunday, the group claimed it had launched a drone strike on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Houthi spokesperson Saree said on X that the drone struck the facility in what he described as a “precise” operation. He said the attack was in retaliation for alleged Saudi drone incursions into the airspace of Saada and Hajjah, two Houthi-controlled provinces in northern Yemen near the Saudi border.
The Houthis did not provide evidence to substantiate the claimed refinery attack or give details of possible casualties or damage.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said industrial security firefighting teams of Saudi Aramco had extinguished a fire at one of the company’s facilities at the Jazan refinery. No injuries were reported.
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