Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have launched drone and missile strikes on a Saudi Aramco refinery and a Yemeni port and killing seven people just days after Riyadh formed a mutual defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for a drone strike on the Jazan refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Sunday. The Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed a fire broke out at the facility but stated it was quickly extinguished with no reported casualties.
Simultaneously, the Houthis attacked the strategic Red Sea port of Mocha. While Saree claimed the strikes targeted Saudi military arsenals, the Yemeni Transportation Ministry reported the attack severely damaged vital civilian maritime infrastructure and left seven dead. In response, Rashad al-Alimi head of Yemen's presidential council urged the international community particularly the United States to aggressively address the root sources of the Houthi threat rather than merely containing it.
These strikes mark a significant escalation following last month's Houthi declaration of a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia. The attacks test the newly minted defense alliance between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan which was established to bolster collective deterrence amid severe regional instability following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran earlier this year.
It remains unclear how Ankara or Islamabad will respond to the refinery strike. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan previously stated that the alliance is a general security pledge rather than an offensive pact aimed at any specific nation.
