The attack on Yanbu commenced on 1 December 1916, when Fakhri Pasha and two brigades invaded the outskirts of the city.

The Arab soldiers in the city began constructing a makeshift airstrip for use by British aircraft.

T. E. Lawrence stated, "Afterwards, old Dakhil Allah told me he had guided the Turks down to rush Yenbo in the dark that they might stamp out Faisal's army once for all; but their hearts had failed them at the silence and the blaze of lighted ships from end to end of the harbour, with the eerie beams of the searchlights revealing the bleakness of the glacis they would have to cross.

"[1] By 9 December, Arab counter-attacks opened up the routes to the city, and flights from the seaplane carrier HMS Raven II severely attacked the Ottoman columns.

Due to logistical errors, and counterattacks from the Arabs, the Ottomans started the retreat to Medina on 18 January 1917, thus ending the attempted recapture of Yanbu.