Iran-aligned Houthi rebels launched a series of missile and drone attacks on Sunday, killing at least 11 people at the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Mokha and setting fire to a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, southwestern Saudi Arabia. The strikes mark a sharp escalation in fighting that has effectively ended a UN-brokered ceasefire and threatens to draw the wider region into a broader conflict.

At Mokha — a port city on Yemen's Red Sea coast held by the internationally recognised, Aden-based Yemeni government — multiple waves of ballistic missiles and drones struck the port and surrounding areas. Medical and military sources confirmed that three civilians and eight military personnel were killed, with more than 32 others wounded. Residents described hearing consecutive explosions over the port and city as air defences responded. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the group had targeted Saudi troops and equipment in the area. Earlier in the day, a fire broke out at Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery — which processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day — with Saudi authorities confirming the blaze was extinguished without injuries. Saree said the facility had been struck by a drone in response to what he described as Saudi drone incursions into northwestern Yemen.

The attacks come against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating regional stability. The 2022 UN-brokered truce between the Houthis and Yemen's government appeared to collapse last month after fighting resumed between regional allies of the United States and Iran. The Houthis subsequently declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, targeting Saudi tankers and oil infrastructure in parallel with Iran's separate blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Hans Grundberg, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, warned that the country is now