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Thursday, 22 October 2026dailybeirut.com
World
Yemen’s armed forces reported that Houthi militias launched drone and missile attacks on Al-Mokha city and port on Sunday, killing seven civilians and four military personnel, wounding 30, and prompting a pledge of retaliation.
The Yemeni Armed Forces announced on Monday that Al-Mokha city and its port came under attack by Houthi militias—the Iranian-backed armed group operating in Yemen—on Sunday. The assault involved ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
In a statement, the Yemeni Armed Forces said the strikes targeted civilian infrastructure, residential buildings for employees, electricity generation stations, and several military sites.
The attack resulted in the deaths of four members of the armed forces and three civilians, with thirty people wounded—most of them civilians.
The forces stated that their air defense units intercepted and shot down 11 drones participating in the operation.
The Yemeni Armed Forces emphasized that the assault on their units in Al-Mokha constitutes an attack on the entire armed forces structure, affirming their resolve and capability to silence threat sources and prevent further hostile actions.
Colonel Wadah Al-Dubaysh, spokesperson for the Joint Forces on the western coast, said the militia renewed its assault on Al-Mokha port and other vital installations in the city using suicide drones and medium- and short-range ballistic missiles.
In remarks to Erm News, Al-Dubaysh confirmed that joint government air defenses stationed along Yemen’s western coast repelled the attack and successfully downed multiple suicide drones, while two ballistic missiles landed in the Red Sea.
Al-Dubaysh described the Houthis’ repeated indiscriminate attacks on Al-Mokha as a “dangerous escalation” endangering civilian lives and critical infrastructure. He stressed that protecting residents and shielding them from potential harm remains the immediate priority.
He urged residents of Al-Mokha to remain calm, stay indoors, and avoid windows, glass façades, balconies, and open areas to safeguard their safety.
In recent hours, Houthi militias carried out multiple waves of aerial and missile bombardments—as well as attacks via explosive-laden boats—against Al-Mokha city in southwestern Taiz Governorate and Al-Khokha district in southern Al-Hudaydah Governorate. Civilian facilities and residential neighborhoods were struck, according to Yemen’s Ministry of Health, which reported seven civilian fatalities and thirty injuries—including two children.
Earlier on Sunday evening, Lieutenant General Tariq Saleh, a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council and head of the Political Office of the National Resistance Forces, visited the Central Operations Room. There, he affirmed that the security and battlefield situation in Al-Mokha city and port, as well as across all fronts along the western coast, remains “under full control,” and that Yemen’s armed forces are at the highest state of readiness across all fronts.
