SANAA (Dispatches) – Yemeni armed forces struck at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s economic lifeline, launching dozens of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and armed drones against Saudi Aramco facilities in the strategic port cities of Jizan and Yanbu in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on Yemen’s Hudaydah province. 
Military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Sareeon Saturday announced that the Yemeni armed forces carried out two “qualitative military operations” targeting sensitive facilities belonging to the state-owned oil giant. 
The first struck Aramco installations in Jizan, while the second targeted facilities in Yanbu, a critical Red Sea port that has become Saudi Arabia’s primary oil export route after near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of the terrorist U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. 
Saree confirmed that both operations achieved “accurate and direct hits” and successfully accomplished their objectives.
Videos shared on social media verified by Reuters showed large columns of smoke rising from the direction of the Saudi Aramco refinery in Jizan, with Asian trading sources reporting they had been informed of some damage at the site. 
Saudi Civil Defense issued early-warning alerts for both Jizan and Yanbu, with reports of multiple explosions rocking Jizan and power outages in several areas of the city. 
Commercial flights bound for Jeddah and Riyadh airports were placed in holding patterns, while Jeddah Airport suspended operations.
The attacks came hours after Saudi warplanes launched a series of airstrikes on Yemen’s strategic Hudaydah province, targeting telecommunications facilities, the port, and Kamaran Island. 
Yemeni air defenses engaged the enemy aircraft after they entered the country’s airspace, preventing further attacks.  
For Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, the Saudi aggression represented a continuation of more than twelve years of blockade and military aggression that has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis through violence, hunger and disease. 
Yemen’s Foreign Ministry denounced Riyadh for choosing aggression instead of responding to Sana’a’s demand for an end to the drawn-out blockade, warning that the Saudi regime “bears the consequences for any developments that will occur as a result of its criminal step.”
On Monday, Yemen declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia effective immediately, warning that any Saudi escalation would be met with a “comprehensive and severe response.” 
The blockade specifically targets Saudi vessels in the Red Sea and the strategic Bab el-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. 
While Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam insisted the movement is not closing the strait to all traffic — only enforcing a “maritime blockade that affects the Saudi side” — the Saudi escalation has already disrupted shipping, with at least seven oil tankers turning around or altering course after the warning.
The blockade is part of a broader strategy announced by Yemen’s Ansarullah leadership under the equation of “blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation.” 
Senior Ansarullah official Hazem al-Assad warned: “Port for port, airport for airport, and every escalation will be met with a greater escalation.” 
Muhammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah’s political bureau,
 cautioned that targeting Hudaydah port will mean “total war between Yemen and Saudi Arabia” — a conflict that will only end with a complete halt to hostilities, the full lifting of the blockade, and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Yemeni territory.
The Bab el-Mandab, known as the “Gate of Tears,” has become the latest front in the expanding regional conflict. Since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran broke out in February, Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on the strait to export crude oil through the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Saudi seaborne crude exports via the Bab el-Mandab surged eightfold between March and mid-July 2026, with the kingdom exporting around 4.7 million barrels per day of crude oil from Yanbu. 
The Ansarullah blockade threatens to cut off this vital route, potentially removing roughly four percent of the world’s oil from the global market and pushing Brent crude above $100 per barrel.
The strategic importance of the Bab el-Mandab cannot be overstated. Approximately 5.2 million barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products pass through the strait daily, making it one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. 
For Saudi Arabia, which has seen its primary export route through the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed due to the U.S. aggression, the Bab el-Mandab has become the kingdom’s economic lifeline. 
By targeting this route, Ansarullah has effectively placed Saudi Arabia’s economy in a vice, threatening to strangle the kingdom’s ability to export its most valuable commodity.
The latest escalation must be understood within the broader context of Saudi Arabia’s devastating war on Yemen, which began in March 2015. 
The Saudi-led coalition, backed militarily, politically, and logistically by the United States and other Western states, launched the war with the stated objective of restoring power to Yemen’s former Riyadh-friendly regime, which had fled the country amid a power struggle. 
Instead, the war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, with the United Nations estimating that over 233,000 people have died, including 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack of food, health services, and infrastructure.
The Saudi blockade, imposed alongside the military campaign, has been described by humanitarian organizations as collective punishment. The blockade has restricted the entry of food, medicine, fuel, and other essential goods, pushing millions of Yemenis to the brink of famine. 
The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Yemen faces the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with over 80 percent of the population requiring humanitarian assistance. Despite this, the Saudi regime has persisted in its blockade, using hunger as a weapon of war.
The Yemen-Saudi confrontation cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader regional war that has engulfed West Asia. The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which began in February 2026, has drawn in multiple regional actors, with Persian Gulf states increasingly aligning themselves with Washington’s military terrorism.  
For Ansarullah, which is part of the “Axis of Resistance” alongside Iran and other regional forces, the Saudi regime’s alignment with Washington and Tel Aviv is a betrayal of Islamic solidarity and a threat to the region’s security. 
Yemen’s Foreign Ministry has slammed the UN Special Envoy for expressing concern over the Ansarullah blockade while remaining silent on twelve years of Saudi blockade against Yemen, noting that such “unacceptable” stances embolden the Saudi regime to continue its crimes against the Yemeni nation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has doubled down on threats against both Iran and the Ansarullah movement. Trump warned that “major military punishment” would be inflicted on Iran if the Yemeni group continued its.
However, Ansarullah leaders have dismissed these threats, emphasizing that their resistance is motivated by genuine grievances against Saudi aggression rather than external direction. 
President of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat has described an unconditional halt to Saudi Arabia’s blockade and aggression against his country as the only solution to end the ongoing hostilities and establish peace. 
“Should the aggression persist and the siege is not lifted, any dialogue and agreement will be nothing but an illusion and a mirage,” Mashat stated.
The International Energy Agency has warned that the war in West Asia poses a serious threat to global energy security.  
Ansarullah leaders have emphasized their determination to continue their campaign until Saudi Arabia lifts its blockade and ends its aggression against Yemen. 
The movement’s leadership has characterized the strikes on Aramco facilities as a legitimate exercise of self-defense, noting that Yemen has endured over twelve years of brutal siege and military assault. 
“We will not hesitate to expand our operations and escalate our actions based on developments in the coming hours and days, within the equation of ‘a blockade for a blockade and an escalation for an escalation,’” the armed forces statement declared.
The reported targeting of Aramco facilities highlights the strategic importance of Saudi energy infrastructure in the Yemen conflict.
Jizan, located near the Saudi-Yemeni border, contains major oil and industrial facilities, while Yanbu on the Red Sea coast is one of Saudi Arabia’s most important energy export and refining hubs. 
Any sustained threat to these locations could have implications beyond the immediate Saudi-Yemeni confrontation because of their role in regional energy flows.