SANAA (Dispatches) — The Yemeni Armed Forces announced on Sunday that they carried out a large-scale military operation targeting Saudi enemy forces and their weapons depots in the Mokha region of southwestern Yemen’s Ta’izz Governorate, killing and wounding dozens of Saudi personnel.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said in a statement that the operation involved “a large number of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles” and resulted in widespread destruction of equipment and weapons. He confirmed that dozens were killed or wounded, including several Saudi military personnel. “The operation comes in response to the Saudi enemy’s continued mobilization of its forces and reinforcement with weapons and equipment, as well as its ongoing attacks on the western coast and Taiz Governorate,” Saree stated.
He added that the Saudi-backed forces were carrying out a substantial military buildup and preparing to launch attacks against Yemeni forces.
Saree emphasized that the Yemeni Armed Forces would continue to monitor and target all Saudi movements and troop buildups, maintaining what he called a “siege for siege, escalation for escalation” equation.
He declared: “We will not allow the Saudi enemy to achieve its goals of targeting our people, and throwing our sons into the chamber of death to serve its conspiratorial agenda at the behest of enemies of the Muslim world.”
The operation follows the Sana’a government’s July 20 declaration of a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia, citing Riyadh’s 12-year siege on Yemen. Since then, the Yemeni Armed Forces have reported numerous successful operations against Saudi-linked vessels in the Red Sea.
The Mokha operation is the latest in a series of escalating strikes by Yemeni forces. On Thursday, Yemeni forces killed at least 58 Saudi-backed troops in one of the deadliest days of the conflict since 2022. The strikes targeted Saudi-backed Emergency Forces in the areas of Al-Ruwaik, Al-Abr, and Al-Thaniyah, as well as other camps, according to Yemeni military sources.
A Yemeni source told Al Mayadeen that Ansarallah and the Yemeni Armed Forces are imposing a “new equation” within Yemeni territory in which “any military presence or movement of Saudi forces towards Yemen, or vice versa, will be targeted directly.”
The source explained that the Yemeni Armed Forces seek to sever the supply lines of Saudi-backed forces and prevent them from moving between governorates.
On the same day as the Mokha operation, Yemeni forces targeted Saudi Aramco’s refinery in the Jizan region with a drone strike, described by Saree as precise and successful. The attack was carried out in response to Saudi drone violations of Yemeni airspace over Sa’ada and Hajjah provinces in recent days.
Saree stated that the operation was retaliation for “provocative actions” by Saudi Arabia, which had flown reconnaissance and spy drones over northern Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry confirmed that a fire broke out at dawn at a Saudi Aramco facility in Jizan, which was extinguished by industrial security firefighting teams. No casualties were reported.
Saudi Aramco had previously shut the Jizan facility on July 27 after a Yemeni attack damaged its Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle complex and tank farm.
Reports also indicated that explosions were heard in Jubail, an industrial port city in the Eastern Province, where Saudi Aramco’s Berri Gas Plant—one of the kingdom’s largest gas processing facilities—is located. However, there is no confirmation yet of the cause of the blast in Jubail.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and its allies have imposed a blockade on Yemen, initiating a comprehensive war supported militarily, politically, and logistically by the United States and certain Western countries.
The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, yet Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve its primary goal of reinstalling a puppet regime aligned with Riyadh.
The recent escalation follows Saudi airstrikes on Sana’a International Airport last month to halt humanitarian flights carrying patients and stranded civilians. In response, Yemeni forces struck Saudi’s Abha International Airport with ballistic missiles and drones.
Yemen’s Foreign Ministry roundly dismissed the UN Security Council’s condemnation of the Yemeni Armed Forces’ retaliatory missile attacks against Saudi Arabia and commercial vessels, saying that the Riyadh regime has splashed out a sizeable sum of money for the issuance of the condemnation.
The ministry said in a statement that the Council, which is supposed to uphold nations’ human rights and ensure justice, is itself the first global body to violate the charters and principles it advocates.
“The Security Council calls for preservation of Yemen’s sovereignty and independence at the same time as it adopts measures that violate Yemen’s self-determination and undermine the rights of its nation,” the statement read.