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Saudi Arabia accused Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels overnight of trying to attack Islam's holiest city, prompting condemnation from countries in the region but no sign of military support. The kingdom, a key US ally, declared Mecca a "red line" as it slid deeper into the new front of the Iran war. With the world's biggest oil exporter under fire from the rebels backed by the Saudis' regional adversary, Tehran, the kingdom needs a safe outlet for its crude as well as military support. However, a path to either one remains unclear. A crucial Saudi pipeline has reportedly been shut down for weeks as the Yemen-based Houthis have been attacking infrastructure in the kingdom as well as its shipping on the Red Sea. Iran is still targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices remain above USD 100 a barrel. The Houthis denied firing drones toward Mecca, about 1,100 kilometres from Yemen's border. The Saudis said they intercepted and destroyed the drone before it entered the airspace
At various times over the last decade, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Britain and Israel have carried out punishing air raids on Yemen's Houthi rebels -- only to see them grow even stronger. Now, as the Iran-backed Houthis advance on a key maritime chokepoint and strike Saudi oil facilities, rattling world markets, there is little that can be done to stop them that hasn't been tried before. That's because the Houthis operate in a large and mountainous territory where they can disperse fighters and military infrastructure while threatening major oil infrastructure and key trade routes. Iran and its allies in Lebanon and Iraq provide expertise, training and sophisticated weapons, according to UN and other experts, and the Houthis' hard-line ideology does the rest. "They are the most committed, the most ideologically pure and the most aggressive" of Iran's regional allies, says Michael Knights, who has written extensively about the Houthis and is now head of
Yemen's Houthi rebels have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering the Iran-backed rebels' ability to control a key maritime shipping route. Meanwhile, repairs to a crucial Saudi Arabian oil pipeline that was struck in an attack last week could last three to five weeks, putting it mostly out of service, two regional officials said. Here's a look at the latest news in the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here. Houthis gain ground as oil prices face more pressure --------------------------------------------------------- Houthi officials said Monday that rebels had taken over the two islands just as Saudi-backed government forces tried to claw back territory from the rebels' swift advances around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas transits in peacetime -- in the opening days
The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen's government. The Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast and one official conceded a "painful" defeat last week when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. The escalation -- especially Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and its shipping in the Red Sea -- adds pressure on global oil supplies and prices, and that could give Iran leverage in its war with the United States. As Yemen risks descending into another civil war, the United Nations estimated that more than 80,000 people in the impoverished country have been displaced by the fighting since the start of September. One woman said a mortar shell fell nearby as she fled in the middle of the night
Saudi airstrikes hit the rebel-held Mokha airport in Yemen on Friday, an Iranian-backed Houthi broadcaster reported, a day after the Houthis entered the key port city on the Red Sea, bringing them closer to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Their advance further threatens commercial shipping on an important alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier Friday, Iran's government called for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen, throwing its support behind its ally, the Houthis. In its first statement since the rebels entered the port, Iran's Foreign Ministry also called for a return to negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. The rebels' capture of Mokha, overlooking tanker routes out of the Red Sea, could boost Iran's strategy of driving up world oil and gas prices to pressure the United States, experts say. It also raises concerns of a new front opening after more than six months of war in the region -- one in which Saudi Arabia is forced to respond. Experts say th
Iran's government on Friday called for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen and the immediate resumption of talks, in its first public statement since Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered a key Yemeni port and intensified their threat to a key global shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, Iran's foreign ministry said Yemen's sovereignty must be respected and its problems cannot be resolved through a blockade or military alliances. Iran also said it was ready to help support negotiations. Meanwhile, experts say the developments in Yemen could give Tehran more leverage in any negotiations with the United States after over six months of war. Events threaten a key Strait of Hormuz alternative ------------------------------------------------------ The Houthis' entry into the Red Sea port of Mokha on Thursday brings them within 80 kilometres of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an important alternative for global shipping as Ir
Pakistan said there should be "no ambiguity" that an attack on any one of the three members of the newly formed Makkah Defence Alliance would be treated as an attack on all, as he warned that the pact could become operative following Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's remarks on Tuesday come hours after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi forces launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting cities and economic and energy infrastructure and injuring at least 73 civilians. The minister said any unprovoked aggression against a member state, or a spillover of the Yemen conflict into Saudi Arabia, would activate the collective-defence provisions of the agreement signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye in Makkah last month. "There should be no ambiguity; there is no need for any clarity that this is a joint defence agreement," Asif said in an interview with Geo TV channel. Pakistan would honour its commitments to Saudi Arabia under the .
Houthi attacks ignited fires at several oil facilities and utilities in Saudi Arabia's southern region Tuesday and wounded more than 70 people, Saudi authorities said. Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said the attacks hit "civilian and economic facilities" in the Saudi cities. The wave of Houthi attacks were a major escalation in the renewed conflict between an important US ally and the Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. The kingdom's Energy Ministry said operations at the oil facilities and utilities were temporarily suspended.
Yemen's Houthis said they attacked an oil facility Sunday in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the latest attack by the Iranian-backed rebels on the kingdom. Meanwhile, Iran has made new demands about the restart of negotiations and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and the Pentagon is pressing the US defence industry to accelerate production of weapons. Here's a look at developments across the Middle East on Sunday. Full coverage can be found here. Houthis target Aramco refinery ---------------------------------- Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson for the Houthis, said they targeted an Aramco refinery in the city of Jazan with a drone. The attack was in response to Saudi drones' breaching Yemen's airspace over the provinces of Hajjah and Saada, he said. Early on Sunday, the Saudi Energy Ministry reported a fire at a facility belonging to the Aramco refinery without casualties. The ministry said the fire was extinguished but it didn't describe its cause. Sunday's Houthi attack i
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it shot down drones fired by Iran-backed militias in Iraq for a second day, while Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have forced a Saudi oil tanker to turn around as part of their self-styled blockade of the kingdom. The attacks underscored lingering tensions despite a period of calm between the United States and Iran, neither of which has announced attacks for days following weeks of escalation over the Strait of Hormuz. The Saudi Defence Ministry said in a statement that air defences intercepted and destroyed several drones that had attempted to target petroleum facilities in the nation's eastern region. It said the attacks were "once again launched from Iraqi territory and carried out by Iran-affiliated terrorist militias." Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered security agencies to investigate after the Saudis alleged a similar attack on Monday. The Iraqi military said in a statement that Iraq is committed to "preventing Iraqi territo
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they have launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia's Abha International Airport in response to airstrikes they blamed on Riyadh that struck Sanaa International Airport earlier. No casualties were reported, but the attacks on Monday marked an escalation not seen since a Saudi-led coalition struck Houthi-controlled areas several years ago. Saudi Arabian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the airstrikes in Yemen. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, in a video statement on Telegram, warned airlines against flying through Saudi airspace, saying these warnings should be taken "seriously until the blockade on Sanaa International Airport is lifted". The internationally recognised government in Yemen said earlier that the strikes that hit Sanaa International Airport were meant to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. The Houthis vowed to retaliate for the strike, which marked the first major ...
A cargo ship came under attack Sunday off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea, the British military said Sunday. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre reported the attack off Yemen, saying the ship reported being "under attack by unknown armed assailants." The UKMTO said authorities were investigating. No group immediately claimed the attack. Yemen's Houthi rebels have threatened to begin attacking ships again, though they have not been carrying out attacks. Meanwhile, Somali pirates have been active further away in the Gulf of Aden recently as well.