Houthis target Saudi military sites as Riyadh vows a “firm” response
Yemen's Ansar Allah, known as the Houthi movement, renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting military sites with missiles and drones, drawing a vow from Riyadh for a “firm” response.
The attacks came as Ansar Allah reinforced positions along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast, adding pressure on Saudi Arabia and raising concerns over oil supplies and regional shipping. The escalation follows battlefield advances by the group in recent days, including the capture of Perim Island at the entrance to the Red Sea.
Ansar Allah said Monday evening that they had launched dozens of missiles and drones toward King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, southern Saudi Arabia. They said they targeted aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways, and ammunition depots in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.
The Saudi-led “Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen” said the attacks injured 13 civilians. Saudi authorities issued emergency alerts in several cities, including Yanbu, the main oil port on the Red Sea, before announcing that the danger had passed.
The latest battlefield advances have forced forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government to retreat from several areas. Yemeni officials told Reuters that the Houthis retain effective control over most of Yemen’s western coast despite intensified Saudi and Yemeni strikes on the group’s positions, including areas around the Red Sea port of Mokha.
Two Yemeni military sources said eight government soldiers were killed and others wounded in Houthi missile attacks on positions between Marib and Al-Jawf governorates.
Pressure on oil exports
Ansar Allah’s escalation is adding pressure on Saudi oil exports after Riyadh suspended operations last week on the East-West pipeline, which carries oil from the kingdom’s eastern fields to the Red Sea coast, following a drone attack that Saudi Arabia said originated in Iraq.
The pipeline stretches about 1,200 kilometers and was built by Saudi Arabia in the 1980s to bypass the Strait of Hormuz during periods of tension. It has become more important as shipping through the strait remains restricted following the outbreak of war on Feb. 28.
Traders said a prolonged shutdown of the pipeline could result in the loss of up to 4% of global oil supplies at a time when the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, according to Reuters.
Crude oil prices rose more than 4% during Monday’s trading, approaching $109 a barrel.
Iran denies supporting Ansar Allah
The Iranian Foreign Ministry denied any involvement by Tehran in the war in Yemen. Its spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said, “Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs,” insisting that the group is “completely independent and makes decisions according to its own interests.”
At the same time, Oman postponed a meeting that had been scheduled between Iran and the Gulf states to discuss negotiations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of global oil exports passed before the war.
Iran said the postponement came at Saudi Arabia’s request, while Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, described Trump’s comments that a deal was close as a “distraction,” saying the resumption of negotiations remained contingent on meeting conditions set by Iran.
Baghaei said that using the Yemen issue as a reason for the postponement was “a flimsy pretext,” without providing further details.
The wider disruption to shipping was also reflected in conflicting accounts of damage to the Panama-flagged oil tanker El Gaia in the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it exploded after hitting a mine in a restricted area, while US Central Command denied the account, saying the tanker had been hit by an Iranian missile last month.
The International Maritime Organization said the tanker was damaged Saturday and that two sailors were missing, while the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations authority reported that a vessel was struck by a projectile inside the strait and caught fire, without resolving the circumstances of the incident.
The latest confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Ansar Allah began after the group accused Riyadh of striking Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing there. They then announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and resumed attacks on its tankers and oil facilities, ending a truce with the Saudi-backed Yemeni government that had been reached in 2022.