Yemen's Houthi rebels launched their heaviest wave of drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia in years on Tuesday, wounding 73 people — including women and children — and forcing a temporary shutdown of operations at several energy facilities in the kingdom's south. The strikes hit the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, with fires breaking out at multiple sites before emergency teams moved in to contain the blaze. Oil prices surged toward $100 a barrel following the assault, with Brent crude rising to $98 per barrel, reflecting market anxiety over the kingdom's energy infrastructure.
The Houthis — formally known as Ansar Allah, an Iran-backed armed movement that controls the most densely populated areas of Yemen — claimed the attacks targeted Abha International Airport, King Khalid air base, and Aramco facilities in Abha and Jizan. Jizan, a port city on the Red Sea coast just north of the Saudi-Yemen border, hosts one of Saudi Arabia's largest oil refineries, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day. Saudi Arabia's energy ministry confirmed that fires had caused "a temporary halt in some operations" but said measures were being taken to ensure safety and continuity. Saudi Arabia's coalition spokesman, Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, denounced the strikes as a "dangerous escalation" and vowed the coalition would "take all necessary operational measures to deter this terrorist militia." Saudi Arabia subsequently launched retaliatory strikes on Yemen's Taiz and Marib provinces.
The Houthis framed their offensive as retaliation, accusing the Saudi-led coalition of conducting more than 120 airstrikes over the previous three days on multiple Yemeni provinces and of striking a prison that killed 11 people. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the attacks would be followed by a broader operation deep into Saudi territory. The Saudi-led coalition, which has backed Yemen's internationally recognised government since 2015, did not confirm recent strikes on Yemen, though Yemeni government forces have launched a multi-front offensive against the Houthis in recent days.
The renewed hostilities are rooted in a four-year informal ceasefire that began to unravel in July, when the Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia and began targeting vessels in the Red Sea. The group is simultaneously pressing a military offensive along Yemen's south-western coast aimed at seizing the Bab al-Mandab Strait — Arabic for "Gate of Tears" — the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden that carries roughly 12% of global maritime trade. That strait has grown in strategic importance since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf chokepoint, as part of the broader US-Iran conflict, rerouting oil flows and intensifying competition over alternative routes. More than 300 people have reportedly died and 18,500 have been displaced in recent days of fighting near the strait.
Analysts warn that the situation places Saudi Arabia in a difficult position. Andreas Krieg, a Gulf security expert at King's College London, noted that "restraint now carries the risk of allowing the Houthis to dictate the spiral of escalation," while predicting Riyadh's immediate response would remain measured. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said diplomacy remained an option but that the kingdom would not hesitate to defend itself. International condemnation has been swift, with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calling the attacks "cowardly" and reaffirming support for Saudi sovereignty, consistent with a trilateral defence pact signed last month between Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara.