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Iran-backed Houthi rebels vowed to retaliate against Saudi Arabia on Saturday after they accused the kingdom of targeting civilian infrastructure, as the Middle East war widens across the region.
Riyadh struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida in Yemen on Friday, with rebel media reporting two wounded after the Yemeni group announced a maritime blockade of the top oil producer and hit its ships.
The flare-up marks a new front of the war that has engulfed the region, and comes on top of Iran’s parallel blockade of the strait of Hormuz, Riyadh’s only other maritime route.
“The Saudi enemy’s targeting of civilian facilities in Hodeida and Kamaran island constitutes a dangerous escalation,” the Houthis’ Ansarollah media posted on Telegram.
“We affirm that these recent crimes will not go unanswered.”
A Yemeni security source told Agence France-Presse that a naval base in the port city of Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran island were among the Saudi targets.
The Saudi-led coalition said it hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets that were threatening commercial vessels, in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping.
The strikes came after the Houthis claimed attacks on two Saudi ships this week, with Saudi Arabia confirming one of the attacks in the Red Sea.
“The terrorist Houthi military … targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea,” Turki al-Maliki, the Saudi-led coalition’s spokesperson, said on X.
The coalition “carried out a decisive and strong response” targeting Houthi military sites used to threaten Red Sea shipping and that the “military response is now over”, he added.
Earlier, Donald Trump said he had not decided on whether to launch major strikes on Iran yet, as Tehran was now getting “serious” in talks with Washington.
His comments came after reports that an increasingly frustrated Trump was meeting senior advisers to discuss launching a large-scale military operation against Iran.
“No I haven’t,” Trump told journalists in the Oval Office when asked if had made a decision.
“Look, we’re talking to them right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious as the days go by, for maybe the obvious reason.”
The New York Times reported earlier that Trump had met advisers on Friday, while the Axios news outlet quoted the US leader as saying on Thursday that he was considering a “massive attack” on Iran.
Trump separately doubled down on comments in an earlier social media post in which he said he believed that Russia and China were not arming Iran, despite reports that both countries were giving Tehran intelligence to target US forces.
“I will tell you that President Xi said he will not partake, and President Putin said the same thing. I think you know I trust them,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t think they’d want to have me disappointed.”
The conflict shows no signs of easing.
US embassies in the Middle East have warned Americans that options to leave could become limited. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards advised residents of neighbouring countries to avoid bases with US troops.
The US military said on Friday that it fired on another merchant vessel that was trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports.
American forces disabled the M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman after the ship attempted to run the blockade at least four times, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesperson, told the Associated Press.
Hawkins stressed that the ship’s crew was warned and didn’t comply with commands. The military then fired into its engine room. It’s the second commercial ship to be disabled since the military reimposed its blockade.
In the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, which is home to a contingent of American military advisers, security officials said Friday that US-led forces had shot down five explosives-laden drones.
Repeated blasts echoed in Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region, and plumes of black smoke were seen near its airport, where US forces are based. US military officials did not respond to a request for comment on the apparent attacks.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had targeted the US base in Udairi, Kuwait, destroying three ammunition and storage sheds. It also claimed to have struck a watchtower for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. US Central Command did not respond to inquiries about the claims.
Both Bahrain and Jordan said they had intercepted aerial attacks by Iran on Friday.
With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
English (US) ·