Houthi attacks kill seven at Yemeni port, target Saudi Aramco refinery

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement carried out an attack on the Red Sea port city of al-Makha on Sunday, targeting Saudi soldiers and equipment and killing seven people, according to a Houthi military spokesperson. 

The group also claimed a separate strike on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jizan.

A Houthi military spokesman for the group's Sanaa-based administration said the port attack involved a large number of ballistic missiles and drones. Yemen's Ministry of Transport condemned the strike, saying it had caused serious damage to the port's infrastructure. 

Saudi Arabia had not issued an immediate comment.

Separately, a fire broke out early on Sunday at an Aramco refinery in Jizan, on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast. Saudi authorities said the blaze was extinguished and that no casualties had been reported, though they did not disclose a cause. The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the fire, saying they had struck the refinery with a drone in what they described as a precise attack, in response to alleged Saudi drone incursions into Yemen's Saada and Hajjah provinces.

The strikes form part of an escalating pattern of Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure. The group claimed similar strikes on Aramco facilities in Jizan last month, as well as on oil installations at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia's main west coast export terminal. 

Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said recent attacks had caused some production interruptions but expressed confidence operations could be restored quickly, adding that the incidents had no material, operational or financial impact on the company.

The attacks add further strain to a 2022 truce between the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government. The Houthis, who have controlled Sanaa since 2014, declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month, threatening shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential council, briefed a US Mission to Yemen official on the developments, saying the Houthi attacks placed a responsibility on the international community, and the United States in particular, to move beyond containing the threat and instead address its underlying sources.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia signed a defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan amid heightened regional tensions stemming from the US-Israel conflict with Iran. Saudi authorities have also attributed some attacks on their oil facilities to Iran-aligned armed groups operating in Iraq.

SOURCE LINK: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/9/saudi-arabia-says-fire-extinguished-at-aramco-facility-in-jizan