Yemen’s Houthis Claim Missile Strike On Saudi Oil Refinery Amid Escalating Tensions

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday that they had struck Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery, the kingdom's largest, with a ballistic missile. The group also claimed to have attacked Saudi military aircraft and repelled an advance by Saudi-backed forces near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route in the Red Sea.

Escalating hostilities between Yemen and Saudi Arabia have further disrupted oil supplies and raised the risk of a wider regional conflict, eight months after the Iran war began, Reuters reported. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the missile strike had caused a fire at the Ras Tanura complex, which includes an oil refinery and a shipping terminal on the Gulf, west of the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the reported attack. Ras Tanura has a refining capacity of 550,000 barrels per day and was temporarily shut during the early months of the Iran war as a precautionary measure.

Nearly all Saudi Arabia's oil exports pass through two main ports: Ras Tanura on the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea. The Houthis have attacked both ports in the past. Bloomberg News, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that Saudi Arabia had contained a fire near Ras Tanura's terminal.

The Houthis also said they had targeted two military transport aircraft at Najran Airport and an airbase in Khamis Mushait. Saudi Arabia did not immediately confirm the reported attacks. On Tuesday afternoon, civil defence authorities briefly issued an air raid alert in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognised government said it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis towards Riyadh. The Houthis also claimed to have repelled an advance by forces they described as Saudi-backed from the southern approaches to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Earlier this month, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces pushed the Houthis out of coastal areas they had seized in September, weakening the group's hold over a vital Red Sea oil route. Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported that Saudi forces had carried out strikes on the Yemeni city of Mocha.

There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia. The renewed fighting has shattered a United Nations-brokered truce agreed in 2022 between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, who control Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran in an effort to reduce regional tensions. Meanwhile, Egypt's parliament authorised the country's military on Monday to help defend Saudi Arabia if requested.

Egypt has said it is considering joining the three countries in a mutual defence pact. The Houthis claimed to have struck Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery with a ballistic missile and attacked Saudi military aircraft.

They also said they repelled an advance near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.