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Symbolic image: Houthis claim missile and drone attacks on Saudi Aramco sites after Hodeidah strikesSymbolic image

Houthis claim missile and drone attacks on Saudi Aramco sites after Hodeidah strikes

3 sources

Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday it had fired missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco facilities in Jizan and Yanbu, calling it retaliation for Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Hodeidah the night before. Saudi air defences intercepted two ballistic missiles from Yemen and emergency alerts were issued in both cities, but Riyadh has not confirmed any damage. The exchange follows a Houthi declaration of a naval blockade of the kingdom and comes as the Red Sea becomes a second disrupted shipping corridor alongside the Strait of Hormuz.

What happened

On Friday night the Saudi-led coalition that has intervened in Yemen since 2015 carried out airstrikes on military targets in the Red Sea province of Hodeidah. On Saturday, 25 July 2026, the Houthi movement's military spokesman announced two operations against facilities of Saudi Aramco: one against sites in Jizan in the kingdom's south-west, close to the Yemeni border, and a second against the company's installations in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. Reuters, cited by The Guardian, reported that Saudi air defences intercepted two ballistic missiles fired from Yemen; the Saudi civil defence issued warnings for Jizan, and The National reports emergency alerts in both cities. Saudi authorities did not immediately comment on the Houthi claims and have not confirmed any impact. A video circulating on social media, described by The Guardian, showed dark clouds above an Aramco refinery in Jizan; its authenticity is not independently established. The Houthi side claims dozens of ballistic missiles and drones were launched and that both operations scored direct hits — a figure no other party has confirmed. All three outlets agree on the sequence: Hodeidah strikes on Friday, Houthi claims of retaliation against Aramco sites on Saturday, interception reported by Saudi defences. Last week the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, said they had attacked a Saudi airport and struck Saudi tankers, after an attack on Sanaa International Airport.

The camps

The Houthis describe the strikes as retaliation and as proof of what they call Saudi Arabia's determination to continue its siege of Yemen and violate the country's sovereignty; their spokesman said the maritime blockade of the kingdom remains in force under a declared strategy of 'blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation', and that operations could expand in the coming days. The movement says the Friday raids hit the city of Hodeidah, its port and Kamaran Island, and claims its air defences forced coalition aircraft to break off further strikes. The Saudi-led coalition calls its operation a proportionate response against legitimate Houthi military targets linked to threats to commercial shipping, and explicitly denies that Hodeidah port was struck. A Yemeni security source told AFP that a naval base in Hodeidah and a military camp on Kamaran Island were the targets. Riyadh said on Saturday it would continue to back initiatives to reopen Sanaa airport to commercial flights and to allow ships into Hodeidah's ports, while accusing the Houthis of blocking flights and attacking civilian vessels. Over Sanaa airport, Yemen's internationally recognised government says the earlier attack was meant to stop an Iranian aircraft landing; the Houthis blame Saudi Arabia.

The view from outside

Telesur, reporting from Venezuela and outside the conflict parties, leads with the Houthi account, presenting the operations as retaliation for the Hodeidah raids and noting the absence of any Saudi response. The Guardian embeds the exchange in the wider Iran file: it reports Iran's health ministry saying the country had its first night without US strikes in two weeks, that a US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed in June broke down after Iranian attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and that Washington had, at least for now, set aside plans for an expanded assault. The National, published in the UAE, cites a Yemen analyst at the Royal United Services Institute who attributes the escalation to Iran's Revolutionary Guard using the Bab Al Mandeb strait as an additional pressure point against the US and its allies; a Crisis Group analyst quoted by the same outlet argues the move reflects Houthi domestic confidence and regional calculation rather than the airport dispute alone.

What's new

Until now the Houthi campaign against the kingdom had centred on shipping and a single airport: last week's attacks on Saudi tankers and the declared naval blockade turned the Red Sea into a second disrupted chokepoint alongside Hormuz and helped push Brent above $100 for the first time since late May. Saturday's claims are the first in this round to name Aramco installations on Saudi soil at two separate points, including Yanbu far to the north of the Yemeni border. New too is the Saudi-led coalition's shift from maritime interdiction to airstrikes inside Hodeidah province, and Riyadh pairing that with a public offer on reopening Sanaa airport and keeping Hodeidah's ports supplied. Mediation by Oman and Jordan on restarting Sanaa-Amman flights has been rejected by the Houthis, who insist on Iranian Mahan Air flights instead.

What could happen next

If the Houthis follow through on their stated readiness to widen operations, further salvos against Saudi energy infrastructure and continued enforcement of the declared blockade would keep Red Sea traffic and Aramco's export routes exposed at a moment when the Strait of Hormuz is already constrained. Alternatively, the coalition may answer with a sustained air campaign in Hodeidah and elsewhere, which The National's sources describe as a plausible path back to open war in Yemen after years of relative quiet on the front lines. A third possibility is that the Sanaa airport track becomes the bargaining channel: Riyadh's public backing for reopening the airport and the rejected Omani and Jordanian mediation leave a negotiating frame in place, though the dispute over which airline flies there ties any deal to the wider standoff between Iran and the United States.

How the camps see it

  • Houthi movement: Says its strikes on Aramco sites answer Saudi airstrikes on Hodeidah and a prolonged siege of Yemen, and that its naval blockade of the kingdom stays in force until the pressure ends.

  • Saudi Arabia and the coalition: Calls the Hodeidah raids a proportionate response to Houthi threats against commercial shipping, denies hitting the port, and says it still backs reopening Sanaa airport and supplying Yemen through Hodeidah.

Also involved

IranUnited States and Britain

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