Seven people were killed on Sunday when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a missile and drone attack on the port of Mokha in Yemen, near the Bab Al Mandeb strait.Recently restored infrastructure was badly damaged in the strike, which involved at least 25 projectiles, Yemen’s Transport Minister Mohsen Al Omari was quoted as saying by state news agency Saba.He said the Houthis bombed economic zones, employee housing, warehouses, private fuel stations, storage tanks and other port facilities.The Iran-backed group said earlier that it had carried out a “large-scale” missile and drone operation against Saudi-backed troops and weapons depots in the Mokha area.Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the operation involved a large number of ballistic missiles and drones and caused widespread destruction of weapons and military equipment and killed and wounded dozens of people, including Saudis.The Houthis said the attack was carried out in response to Saudi troop reinforcements and attacks on Yemen's western coast and Taiz province.A Yemeni military spokesman said the attack killed seven people, including civilians and military personnel, and involved the use of an explosive-laden boat. He said parts of the dock and facilities used for servicing ships and unloading goods and livestock were fdamaged, and added that the rebels also tried to destroy a solar power plant supplying electricity to Mokha but failed.Earlier on Sunday, Mr Saree said the Houthis had carried out a drone strike on an Aramco refinery complex in Jazan, southern Saudi Arabia, describing it as a “precise” attack.The group said the Jazan strike was in response to what it described as Saudi violations of Yemeni airspace over the Saada and Hajjah provinces.Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said a fire at the 400,000 barrel a day refinery on the kingdom’s west coast was brought under control, with no injuries reported.Aramco’s industrial firefighting teams extinguished the blaze at dawn, the ministry said. Authorities were completing procedures to deal with the incident, the ministry added, without disclosing the cause of the fire.The Jazan refinery, on the Red Sea near the border with Yemen, has been attacked by the Houthis in recent weeks after they declared an “embargo” on Saudi ports and shipping in the Red Sea, saying it was in response to a Saudi “siege” on rebel-held areas of Yemen.Saudi Arabia led a regional coalition in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. The attack on Mokha came a day after government forces attacked the Houthis on several fronts in response to the rebels' recent strikes on government-held areas in central and eastern Yemen. The exchanges mark a sharp escalation between the Houthis and ​the government after large-scale fighting between the two ‌sides largely subsided following a 2022 ceasefire agreement.On Friday, more than 17 people were killed and many others wounded in a Houthi attack on the central province of Marib, a Yemeni official told The National. Three others were killed in strikes on areas hosting internally displaced civilians, the official said.Government sources told The National on Thursday that dozens of Yemeni government troops have been killed in recent Houthi attacks. The Houthis said they fired drones and missiles at troops linked to Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey on Friday signed a joint defence pact aimed at strengthening regional security in the face of conflicts across the Middle East.The agreement reflects the three states' commitment to “further strengthening their collective security and to promoting peace, security and stability in the region and beyond, in pursuit of a secure and prosperous future”, a Pakistan Defence Ministry representative said.The agreement also stipulates that an attack on one state is an attack on all.Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the milestone agreement, which he said aimed to “unify efforts to confront the challenges and threats” in the region.The agreement is “an embodiment of the shared political will of the three countries” for a secure and stable Middle East, he said. He said it should “positively reflect on the region as a whole, and pave the way for a secure future in which opportunities for development and prosperity are enhanced”.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the new alliance was not directed against Iran or any other ⁠country, but rather served as a general pledge to support the three allies' security. It was not clear whether or how either Pakistan or Turkey would join in any Saudi response to the latest attacks.Mr Fidan said the allies would decide through consultations what degree, form, and format of support they would ask for, in the event of an attack on any of them.With reporting from Nada AlTaher.