• Yemen’s Houthis launch missile and drone attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Jizan and Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, in retaliation for Saudi-led coalition strikes on Hodeidah port and Kamaran Island.

Yemen’s Houthis target Saudi oil facilities along the Red Sea

Yesterday, Yemen’s Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Jizan and Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, in retaliation for Saudi-led coalition strikes on Hodeidah port and Kamaran Island.

Saudi-led coalition, Houthis trade attacks amid efforts to de-escalate the conflict

A strong and defining statement by the Ansar Allah Houthi group, made not just through a TV statement but through a series of attacks that targeted the Saudi cities of Yanbu and Jizan.

The Yemeni group says they launched dozens of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and Yemeni-made drones targeting oil facilities in both cities.

Now, Saudi authorities say the attacks were all successfully intercepted, but the Yemeni group says their military operation was a success and that all intended targets were successfully hit.

The latest flare-up comes just a day after Saudi Arabia launched a military operation targeting what it says are Houthi positions in the province of Hodeidah and the island of Kamaran, Yemen’s biggest island. It is actually very close to Bab al-Mandeb, where the ships have been targeted or turned away by the Ansar Allah.

Now, the UN envoy to Yemen and Omani officials have called on both parties to resume negotiations. UN officials, Saudi officials and even some Ansar Allah officials are said to be in Oman for what could be a potential second round of negotiations.

Until then, many people expect further attacks from both sides, since the demands for lifting the siege on Sanaa international airport and the port of Hodeidah have not yet been achieved.

Ansar Allah says if Saudi Arabia does not lift the siege on Yemen, they will continue to launch missiles and they will continue to impose a naval blockade and that Aramco oil facilities will be one of their main targets.

Kuwait condemns Houthi attacks in Red Sea, supports Saudi retaliation

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its “condemnation and strong denunciation” of the Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea.

In a statement, the ministry called the attack on the Saudi vessel NCC MASA in the Red Sea on Saturday a “flagrant violation of international law and a direct threat to the security and freedom of maritime navigation and the safety of international trade”.

The ministry affirmed its “full solidarity” with Saudi Arabia and says it supports “all measures taken by the Kingdom to safeguard its sovereignty and protect its security and interests”.

The attacks by the Houthis came after the Yemeni group declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia last week, following an attack on Sanaa international airport.

Riyadh retaliated by launching strikes on the Houthi-held city of Hodeidah, and the Yemeni group went on to claim attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

Houthis claim downing of Saudi-linked drone

A Turkish-made reconnaissance drone was reportedly shot down by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in northwest al-Jawf governorate on Sunday.

The group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, claimed that Houthi fighters downed a drone belonging to “the Saudi enemy while it was carrying out hostile operations”.

It comes after a recent flare-up in fighting between the two sides, with reports of tit-for-tat strikes between Saudi forces and the Houthis.

Yemen PM says Houthi Red Sea attacks serve ‘Iranian agenda’

Yemen’s Prime Minister Shaya Mohsen al-Zindani says the Houthi militia’s continued targeting of commercial vessels and threats to Red Sea security demonstrate that it is executing an Iranian agenda.

In a post on X, al-Zindani said the attacks jeopardise freedom of navigation, disrupt global supply chains and trade, and undermine United Nations regional and international peace efforts.

“The protection of freedom of navigation and maritime security is a collective responsibility,” the prime minister said, calling on the international community to take a firmer stance to deter Houthi behaviour and dry up its sources of support.

Al-Zindani also stressed that his government will continue close coordination with the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s “legitimate government”.

The remarks come as fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia escalated over the last week, threatening to reignite Yemen’s devastating civil war.

Peace requires ‘severing the arm’ of Iran’s Guard, says Yemen’s defense minister

Yemen’s Defense Minister Lieutenant General Taher al-Aqili said the armed forces, coordinating with the Saudi-led coalition and international partners, are committed to confronting “the terrorism perpetrated by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia” until its threat is neutralised and state control is established over all national territory.

He said the Houthis have, for over a decade, proven they “thrive only on cycles of violence, terrorism, piracy, and chaos,” exploiting Yemen’s location to threaten international navigation “in service of the agenda of its financiers and operators in Tehran”.

Al-Aqili said regional and international peace “will not prevail, except by severing the arm of the Revolutionary Guard,” and by extending state control over all national territory.