Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, said on Sunday that its forces shot down a Saudi drone over northwest Yemen a day after the group launched strikes targeting Saudi oil facilities in response to Saudi strikes in Yemen.
Yemeni media published photos of what is said to be the wreckage of a Turkish-made Bayraktar drone, which is designed to fire missiles to carry out airstrikes, that Ansar Allah said was being operated by the Saudi military to conduct “hostile” operations over Yemen’s northern al-Jawf province.
A day earlier, Ansar Allah said it targeted Saudi oil facilities in Saudi Arabia’s southern Red Sea provinces of Jazan and Yanbu after Saudi airstrikes targeted Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah, marking the first time Yemeni missiles and drones targeted Saudi oil infrastructure since a 2022 ceasefire between the two sides.
Videos on social media appear to show that an Aramco facility in Jazan was struck, but the extent of the damage is unclear. In his statement on the attack, Ansar Allah military spokesman Yahya Saree vowed the maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, which began last week, would remain in effect “in response to [Saudi Arabia’s] aggression and its unjust blockade that has persisted for twelve years.”
Ansar Allah began the blockade a week after Saudi Arabia bombed the Sanaa International Airport in Yemen to prevent a plane that departed Iran from landing there. Yemeni forces have targeted at least two Saudi oil tankers since the blockade began, and President Trump has threatened to restart his bombing campaign in Yemen if more are hit.
