Fires burned at oil facilities and utilities across southern Saudi Arabia early on Tuesday after a wave of Houthi strikes that wounded at least 73 people. The wounded included women and children, said Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.
Al-Malki said the attacks hit “civilian and economic facilities” in Abha, Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait. He called them a “serious escalation” and a “flagrant violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty, and a direct threat to the security and safety of its citizens and residents.” Saudi officials said the kingdom would respond. The energy ministry reported fires at some sites and a temporary halt to operations.
The Iran-backed Houthis claimed it. In a prerecorded video, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the group fired “dozens of ballistic missiles and drones” at oil and economic sites, including Aramco facilities and the Jazan industrial zone, and at an air base in the south. He blamed Saudi Arabia for the escalation and warned that “every aggression against our country and people will be met with a firm response.”
A truce already broken
The strikes followed weeks of fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen, which had broken a four-year truce in the country’s civil war.
Shipping is the worry. The Bab al-Mandeb strait carries oil and global trade, and it had helped soften the blow while Iran choked off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The Hormuz route moved about one-fifth of the world’s oil before the war. NBC News reported that Brent crude touched $99 a barrel on Tuesday. The New York Times said markets were pricing in “a more prolonged disruption to shipping flows.”
US hits Iranian tankers
The same day, U.S. Central Command said American forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers, and it announced the strikes in a social media post. Washington described them as retaliation for attempted Iranian missile attacks on a U.S. Navy warship.
Sources
- Iran-Backed Houthis Strike Saudi Cities, Wounding 73, as U.S. Destroys Iranian Oil Tankers: how 14 outlets framed it | NewsCord
- Houthi strikes set fire to Saudi oil sites and wound 73, plus other key Mideast news
Sources
- Iran-Backed Houthis Strike Saudi Cities, Wounding 73… | NewsCord
- Iran war news: Houthi attack and U.K. West Bank import ban
