The Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen launched a wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding 73 people and setting fire to oil facilities and utilities in the kingdom, authorities said.
The attacks marked a major escalation in renewed fighting between Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, and the Iran-backed group, threatening to further destabilise a region already battered by years of conflict and adding to concerns over the global economy.
The flare-up has also put pressure on already limited global oil supplies, with the Houthis targeting a shipping route used by Saudi Arabia to transport oil to international markets while the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted amid the US-Iran war.
Tuesday's attacks struck Saudi oil facilities linked to the alternative route through the Bab el-Mandeb, the strategic waterway off the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, a Shiite militant group armed and trained by Iran, dates back years.
Yemen's civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of northern Yemen, forcing the internationally recognised government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try to restore the government.
Fighting largely subsided after a truce four years ago.
The civil war has killed at least 150,000 people, according to UN estimates, and at times pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.
The Houthis are part of a wider network of Iranian-backed groups across the Middle East that have stepped up attacks on shipping, Israel and neighbouring countries in recent years in response to Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and more recently amid the US-Israeli war against Iran.
While the Houthis frequently coordinate with Iran, they have also carried out operations independently in pursuit of their own interests.
The attacks early Tuesday struck “civilian and economic facilities” in the Saudi cities of Abha, Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait, Maj Gen Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said.
Al-Malki said 73 people, including women and children, were wounded but did not provide further details.
Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said the attacks caused fires at several oil facilities and utilities in the country's southern region, temporarily suspending operations there.
The region is home to major oil infrastructure, including the 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Jazan, one of Saudi Arabia's largest. The Houthis have previously targeted Abha airport.
Firefighters were battling the blazes on Tuesday morning, the ministry said.
Al-Malki described the attacks as a “serious escalation” and vowed retaliation.
In a prerecorded video statement, Houthi military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree said the rebels had fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at oil and economic facilities and an air base in southern Saudi Arabia.
He said targets included Jazan City for Primary and Downstream Industries, a major industrial and logistics hub on Saudi Arabia's southwestern Red Sea coast.
The rebels also targeted Aramco facilities in Najran and Abha, as well as King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, Saree said.
Blaming Saudi Arabia for the escalation, he warned that “every aggression against our country and people will be met with a firm response.”
The attacks came hours after the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an airstrike on a prison in Yemen's northern Jawf province. At least seven people, including a child, were killed and seven others wounded in that strike.
The latest escalation followed a Houthi attempt in July to fly a plane from Tehran to Sanaa, challenging a decade-long air and naval blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition. A coalition airstrike hit the Sanaa airport runway, preventing the flight from landing.
The Houthis responded with missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and attacks on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, bringing an end to a 2022 truce that had largely halted fighting.
The rebels also attacked Saudi-allied forces inside Yemen, prompting government forces to launch operations against the Houthis along the country's west coast and elsewhere.
Government forces have since recaptured territory from the Houthis in Hodeida and Taiz provinces and attacked rebel positions in northern Jawf and the central provinces of Marib and Bayda.
The renewed fighting has displaced about 18,500 people in Taiz and Hodeida in southwestern Yemen, putting further pressure on communities in southern Taiz and along 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.”