Houthi Missile Strike on Saudi Arabia’s Jizan Province

The Iran-backed Houthi movement announced that it launched missiles at the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Saturday, issuing emergency alerts for the Jazan and Yanbu provinces around 6:10 a.m. local time. Saudi authorities lifted the Jazan warning shortly afterward, stating that the danger had passed. The Houthis said the strike was retaliation for Saudi attacks on a naval base in Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran island the previous day.

Bloomberg

The Houthis, who have controlled Yemen’s capital Sanaa since 2014, have been engaged in a protracted civil war with a Saudi-led coalition that has bombarded Yemeni targets for years. In recent weeks the group announced a maritime blockade of Saudi ports and struck two Saudi-linked oil tankers in the Red Sea. The escalation follows a broader regional conflict that intensified after the United States and Israel began a war against Iran, with Iran providing funding and support to the Houthis while maintaining a degree of operational autonomy.

BloombergThe Guardian

Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, described the Houthi missiles as “terrorist” attacks on commercial shipping and said the coalition had carried out a decisive response against Houthi sites. U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said U.S. forces disabled the merchant vessel M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman after it attempted to breach the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, firing into its engine room after warnings were ignored. In Iraq’s Kurdish city of Irbil, U.S.-led forces reported shooting down five explosives-laden drones. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have struck the U.S. base in Udairi, Kuwait, destroying three ammunition and storage sheds, and also hit a watchtower for the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. Former President Donald Trump reiterated that he was in talks with Iran and expressed uncertainty about a possible large-scale U.S. attack.

The GuardianBloomberg

Brent crude has risen roughly 27 % over the past two weeks, closing at $96.78 a barrel on Friday. The Houthis’ recent actions include attacks on two Saudi-linked oil tankers and the claimed missile strike on Jizan.

Bloomberg

Disruption of Saudi Red Sea export routes threatens to tighten global oil supplies, potentially pushing prices higher. The tit-for-tat strikes illustrate a widening front in the Middle-East conflict, linking the Yemen civil war with U.S.–Iran tensions and raising the risk of further escalation that could affect international shipping and energy markets.

Bloomberg