Houthis Claim Attacks on Saudi Oil and Military Sites as UN Extends Yemen Sanctions

On November 12, 2026, the UN Security Council unanimously voted to extend Yemen-related sanctions for one more year. The same day, the Houthis, an armed group in Yemen, claimed a series of drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabian oil and military sites, according to Al Jazeera.

Sanctions are penalties that restrict a target's money and movement. The renewed measures include asset freezes, which block access to funds, and travel bans. The Council also extended the mandate, or formal authorisation, of the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen. In its resolution, the Council demanded an end to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the group had hit a pumping station on the East-West Pipeline with a drone. He also said the Houthis had targeted the Yanbu oil facility on the Red Sea and the headquarters of the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in Riyadh. Saree claimed a drone had targeted a military cargo plane at Sharurah airport, near Yemen's border, and that a ballistic missile aimed at Khamis Mushait airbase had scored a direct hit.

A Saudi-led military coalition gave a different account of the strikes. Its spokesperson, Major General Turki al-Maliki, said coalition forces had intercepted suspected Houthi drones over the Riyadh region and the Eastern Province. Saree rejected as a grave falsehood a Saudi assertion that the Houthis had targeted the Mecca region on Wednesday.

The pipeline and the Yanbu terminal matter because of their role in oil flows. Riyadh has rerouted about 4 million barrels of crude oil per day through the East-West Pipeline to Yanbu, equal to about 4 percent of global supply, according to the same report. Disruption at either point would affect that route.

The humanitarian toll in Yemen is also growing. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 333,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the beginning of August 2026, including more than 24,000 in the past week.