The Houthi rebel group, backed by Iran, launched a wave of attacks against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, injuring more than 70 people and setting fire to oil and utility facilities in the kingdom, authorities reported.
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The attack represented a significant escalation in the resumption of fighting between a key U.S. ally and the Iran-aligned group. It also threatened to further destabilize a region battered by nearly three years of war and deal a new blow to the global economy.
Indeed, Brent crude oil, the European benchmark, rose to nearly $100 as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise with new attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on targets in Saudi territory, which have left at least 73 injured, in response to the deaths of at least seven people from bombings by the Riyadh-led coalition.
Tensions have escalated between Yemen’s Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition forces—an international alliance created to protect the Red Sea from Houthi attacks—with exchanges of bombings keeping international trade on alert.
Weeks of clashes have intensified pressure on the world’s limited oil reserves, as the Houthis attack a maritime route Saudi Arabia has used to transport oil to global markets, while the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked due to the war between the United States and Iran. Tuesday’s attacks targeted Saudi oil facilities connected to the alternative route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic maritime passage off the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The attacks carried out in the early hours of Tuesday targeted civilian and economic facilities in the Saudi cities of Abha, Jazan, Najran, and Khamis Mushait, according to Major General Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.
Al-Malki indicated that the attacks left 73 injured, including women and children.
The attacks caused fires at several oil and utility facilities in the southern region of Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s Ministry of Energy reported. Operations at these facilities were temporarily suspended.
The southern region houses important oil facilities, including an oil refinery in Jazan with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, one of the largest in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis had already attacked Abha airport.
The ministry indicated that firefighters were combating the fires on Tuesday morning.
Al-Malki described the attacks as a “serious escalation” and promised retaliation.
In a pre-recorded video statement, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the rebels, said they fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at oil and economic facilities, as well as an airbase in southern Saudi Arabia.
He said they attacked the city of Jazan, a center of primary and derivative industries, an important industrial and logistical hub on the southwestern Saudi coast of the Red Sea. The rebels also attacked Aramco facilities in Najran and Abha, as well as King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait.
Saree blamed Saudi Arabia for the escalation, warning that “any aggression against our country and our people will receive a firm response.”
The attacks occurred hours after the rebels blamed Saudi Arabia for an airstrike on a prison in the northern province of Jawf, Yemen. At least seven people, including a child, were killed and seven others injured.
