Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi Arabia
SANAA, YEMEN—Tehran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on Saudi Arabia on Saturday as US President Donald Trump mulled fresh strikes on Iran in the deepening Middle East war.
The US military broke its daily announcement of fresh strikes on the Islamic republic on Saturday, following 13 nights in a row hitting military targets there.
Trump said he had not yet decided whether to launch major strikes on Iran, hours before the conflict widened across the region with Yemen’s Houthi rebels claiming a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan.
New war front
The Houthis had accused US ally Riyadh of a “dangerous escalation” after it struck military targets belonging to the group on Friday, following the rebels announcing a maritime blockade of the top oil producer and hitting its ships in the Red Sea.
The flare-up marks a new front in a war that has engulfed the region following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February, and comes on top of Iran’s parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh’s only other maritime route.
Riyadh did not immediately comment on the Houthis’ Ansarollah media post on Telegram on Saturday that a “Yemeni missile strike” had sparked fires in Jizan.
But Riyadh’s civil defense agency issued brief warnings to residents in the city, as well as Yanbu, early on Saturday.
The warning came after the Saudi-led coalition said Friday it had hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets threatening commercial vessels in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping.
A Yemeni security source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) a naval base in the port city of Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran island were among the Saudi targets.
The Houthis claimed attacks on two Saudi ships earlier this week, with Saudi Arabia confirming one of the attacks in the Red Sea.
