Riyadh (TDI): Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed on Saturday they launched a missile strike on southern Saudi Arabia, hours after vowing retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen, marking a further escalation in the widening Middle East conflict.
According to Houthi-run Ansarollah media, the missile attack sparked fires in the Saudi city of Jizan on the Red Sea. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the strike, although civil defense officials briefly issued precautionary alerts for residents in Jizan and Yanbu before lifting them.
The latest exchange follows Saudi airstrikes on Houthi positions in Hodeida on Friday, targeting sites the kingdom said were being used to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Yemeni security sources said the strikes hit a naval base in Hodeida, a telecommunications building near the port, and a military camp on Kamaran Island. Houthi media reported that two civilians were wounded.
The Houthis had earlier announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia and warned they would target Saudi-linked vessels in the Red Sea. Saudi officials confirmed that one Saudi-operated commercial ship sustained minor damage in a recent attack but continued its voyage.
Read More: A War at Sea: From Hormuz to Bab el-Mandeb
The renewed Red Sea confrontation has opened another front in the regional conflict, which has already disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and raised concerns over global energy supplies.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said Washington was continuing diplomatic contacts with Tehran and had not yet decided on a major escalation in military operations. He said Iran faced a choice between reaching an agreement or confronting a “much higher level” of US strikes if it moved closer to developing a nuclear weapon.
Read More: Houthi Blockade of Saudi Arabia Opens New Maritime Front
Iran also claimed on Friday that it carried out attacks on US military facilities in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted an Amazon data centre in Bahrain. Neither the United States, Bahrain nor Amazon confirmed the claims.
Bahraini authorities reported that warning sirens sounded again early Saturday, advising residents to seek shelter as regional tensions continued to intensify.
