Houthi attacks hit Saudi energy sites, injuring dozens and disrupting operations

Cairo, Sep 8: The Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen launched a wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and igniting fires at oil facilities and utilities in the kingdom, authorities said.The attack was a major escalation in renewed fighting between an important US ally and the Iranian proxy group. It also threatened to further destabilise a region rocked by nearly three years of wars and deliver a new blow to the global economy.Weeks of clashes have added pressure to limited global oil supplies as the Houthis target a shipping route Saudi Arabia has used to transport oil to world markets while the Strait of Hormuz is throttled due to the US-Iran war. Tuesday's attacks hit Saudi oil facilities connected to the alternative route, the Bab el-Mandeb, a strategic waterway off the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.A Yemeni attack on southern Saudi Arabia left 73 military personnel dead or wounded, according to a saudi Ministry of Defense spokesperson. Footage shows a fire at the Saudi Aramco oil storage and loading facility in Abha following intense attacks by Ansarullah. pic.twitter.com/gaL8JKV9pO— Abraracursix abdala (@Abraracurs64713) September 8, 2026 Fears mount of renewed war in YemenThe conflict between Saudi Arabia, one of the US's closest Middle East allies, and the Houthis, a Shiite militant group armed and trained by Iran, goes back years.The new fighting has threatened to reignite the country's civil war, which began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power.Fighting has greatly died down since a truce was reached four years ago.The civil war has killed at least 150,000 people, according to UN estimates, and at times pushed the country to the brink of famine.The Houthis are part of a network of Iranian-backed proxies across the region that have stepped up attacks on regional shipping and Israel and neighbouring countries in recent years in response to Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and more recently during the US-Israeli war against Iran.The Houthis often act in coordination with Iran but also have carried out operations independently to promote their own interests.PM Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin To Hold Bilateral Meeting Ahead Of BRICS Summit In New Delhi On September 11, 5th Gen Su-57s On AgendaHouthi attacks hit oil facilitiesThe attacks early Tuesday hit “civilian and economic facilities” in the Saudi cities of Abha, Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait, said Maj Gen Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.Al-Malki said the attacks wounded 73 people, including women and children. He didn't provide further details.The attacks ignited fires at several oil facilities and utilities in Saudi Arabia's southern region, the kingdom's Energy Ministry said. Operations at the oil facilities and utilities were temporarily suspended, it said.The southern region houses major oil facilities, including a 400,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Jazan, which is one of Saudi Arabia's largest. The Houthis previously attacked the Abha airport.The ministry said firefighters were battling the fires Tuesday morning.Al-Malki called the attacks a “serious escalation” and vowed retaliation.Houthis claim responsibilityIn a prerecorded video statement, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the rebels' military spokesman, said they fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at oil and economic facilities, as well as an air base in southern Saudi Arabia.Eiffel Tower Row: Paris Orders Probe After Women Staff Asked To Step Aside During Hindu Group's VisitHe said they targeted Jazan City for Primary and Downstream Industries, a major industrial and logistics hub on Saudi Arabia's southwestern Red Sea coast. The rebels also aimed at 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 “every aggression against our country and people will be met with a firm response.” The attacks came hours after the rebels blamed Saudi Arabia for an airstrike that hit a prison in Yemen's northern province of Jawf. At least seven people, including a child, were killed and seven others were wounded.Over 18,000 people displacedThe latest escalation stemmed from a Houthi attempt in July to fly a plane from Tehran to Yemen's capital, Sanaa, challenging a decade-long air and naval blockade by the Saudi-led coalition. A coalition airstrike struck the runway of the Sanaa airport, preventing the landing of the flight.The Houthis responded with missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, and attacks on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, ending a 2022 truce that had largely halted fighting.Also Watch:The rebels also launched attacks on Saudi-allied forces inside Yemen, prompting government forces to respond with attacks on the Houthis across Yemen's west coast and elsewhere in the country.Government forces have reclaimed territory from the Houthis in the provinces of Hodeida and Taiz, and attacked the rebels in the northern province of Jawf as well as the central provinces of Marib and Bayda.The flare-up has displaced about 18,500 people in Taiz and Hodeida in southwestern Yemen, further pressuring communities in southern Taiz and the West Coast, according to the International Organisation for Migration.“Families are arriving with nothing: no shelter, no food, no way to know if it's safe to go back,” said Abdusattor Esoev, IOM Yemen's Chief of Mission. “Many of these are people who have already been displaced once, twice, even four times before.”(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

Operations at some energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, were halted on Tuesday following attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that wounded 73 people, in what Saudi authorities described as a dangerous escalation. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the “terrorist Houthi militia’s targeting of civilian and economic” sites in the southern cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, and Najran. The ministry said the attacks resulted in 73 civilians being injured, including women and children. Fires erupted at the sites and several people were injured as firefighting and other emergency teams rushed to contain the blazes and assess the damage, the Saudi energy ministry said. It added that the authorities concerned were dealing with the repercussions of the attacks. “The needed measures will be taken to ensure the safety of the facilities and workers and the continuation of work according to the approved operational plans,” said the ministry. The Saudi foreign ministry said Riyadh would “take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty”. It also called for an “immediate halt to all forms of escalation practised by this militia”, as well as Houthi attacks on shipping. The flare-up in violence between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis came as tensions mounted between the United States and Iran as the wider Middle East conflict sent oil prices soaring with diplomatic negotiations stalling. Brent crude futures rose $1 to $98 per barrel after the Saudi energy ministry statement, while US crude futures rose over $2 to $93.65 per barrel. On Monday, the Financial Times said Aramco’s Jazan oil facilities were hit in new strikes, and the damage was being assessed. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report and Aramco has not commented. The Houthi military spokesperson said the group will announce in the coming hours a broad operation deep into Saudi territory. Spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Monday that Riyadh had taken “escalatory steps” by conducting airstrikes on Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition did not announce any recent strikes on Yemen, but the Yemeni government has in recent days mounted an offensive on multiple fronts against the Houthis in Yemen. The coalition vowed to respond firmly to the latest outbreak of hostilities, saying the latest escalation against the de facto Opec leader was “dangerous”. “The coalition will take all necessary operational measures to deter this terrorist militia and resolutely confront its hostile approach,” Colonel Turki al-Malki said in a statement on X. The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks towards Saudi Arabia since they declared a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting its vessels in the Red Sea. Pakistan had condemned the Houthis’ threats to Saudi Arabia and to trading with the kingdom via the Red Sea. It also warned that it had the right to self-defence if its “maritime interests” were targeted in “any hostile act”. In late July, Saudi Arabia unveiled plans for a multinational maritime defence coalition to protect shipping and energy supply routes in the Red Sea. Fourteen countries, including Pakistan, had voiced support for the coalition. Last month, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye also signed a joint defence agreement under which an attack against one of them would be treated as an attack against all of them. The Yemeni threat to shipping and Saudi oil facilities comes in parallel with Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has become the central flashpoint between Tehran and Washington amid efforts to end the Middle East war begun by the US and Israel in February.