Yemen: Government forces say they have retaken Mokha; Houthis say they hit Riyadh airport and an Aramco refinery

Forces of Yemen’s internationally recognised government announced on Monday, October 5, that they had retaken the Red Sea port of Mokha, which the Houthis had seized in September. Late that evening the Houthis announced three missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, including on Riyadh’s international airport and an Aramco refinery, while the Riyadh-led coalition disclosed a naval operation in Hodeidah province. The announcements of the two sides have not been confirmed by an independent source.

The Yemeni army said fighting took place on several fronts around Mokha and that the Houthis suffered dead and wounded, while military sources also spoke of prisoners, without giving numbers, as Al Jazeera reported. The town, in the west of Taiz province, had passed under Houthi control before they pushed on towards Bab el-Mandeb. Its recapture was announced on the same day as the advance at Dhubab and the strait, which the Houthis have denied.

Coalition naval operation in Hodeidah

The coalition’s spokesman, Major General Turki al-Maliki, announced that naval forces had carried out an operation in Hodeidah province and destroyed Houthi military targets: weapons depots and sites where explosive-laden boats and naval mines were being stored. According to him, a plan for imminent attacks on shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea was thwarted, and the operation forms part of the protection of navigation at Bab el-Mandeb.

What the Houthis claim

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said, in a statement carried by the Al-Masirah television network, that three operations had been carried out on Saudi territory. The first targeted Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and the second an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast, where according to him a fire broke out. The third was directed against Abha International Airport, King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait, a military camp in Asir province and what he called vital facilities in Najran and Jazan. Saree described them as a response to what he said were 60 Saudi air and missile strikes in the previous 24 hours. The Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the strikes, the Xinhua news agency noted.

Agence France-Presse reported that loud explosions were heard in northern Riyadh. The US embassy in Saudi Arabia issued a security alert urging American citizens to remain vigilant, because of the possibility of drone or missile attacks, and to follow the instructions of Saudi Civil Defence.

Riyadh: “Inherent right” of defence

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the kingdom retains the “inherent right” to defend its territory, resources and residents and to take every necessary measure in accordance with international law. It reiterated its full political and military support for Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council and condemned the attacks on Mecca, Medina, Riyadh, Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, Najran, Taif and Yanbu, as well as on Saudi ships in the southern Red Sea and at Bab el-Mandeb. It also called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council to support the Yemeni government.

The developments follow the decision by Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to proceed with a rapid deployment of forces on Saudi territory under the Mecca agreement. The three governments have not announced when the deployment will begin.