Jornal Do Brasilia - Houthis target Saudi oil as new Middle East front

In a video statement, military spokesman Yahya Saree said the rebels targeted sites operated by the Saudi oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu, threatening to expand the group's response if attacked by the Gulf monarchy.

Earlier, the rebels' media had said a strike on Jizan had sparked fires. A video circulating on social media, and verified by AFP, showed dark clouds rising above a refinery belonging to Aramco in the city.

Saudi Arabia made no direct comment on the attack but the kingdom's civil defence issued warnings for Jizan, on the kingdom's southwest coast, as well as in Yanbu to the north.

A surface-to-air battery operated by Greek personnel in Saudi Arabia downed two ballistic missiles and later a drone launched from Yemen targeting Yanbu on Saturday morning, the Greek air force press office said.

The Iran-backed group had accused US ally Saudi Arabia of a "dangerous escalation" after Riyadh struck Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday.

A Yemeni security source told AFP a naval base in the port city of Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran Island were among the Saudi targets.

The renewed exchange of fire between the US and Iranian allies signals the emergence of a new front in the Middle East war following US and Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February.

- 'Back to strikes' -

Faiza, a 36-year-old mother of two and Hodeida resident, told AFP the strikes were like "the sound of loud thunder", explaining she had heard three distinct explosions.

"I didn't want to believe that we had gone back to strikes," she added.

Yemen's Houthis have been at war with the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government since 2015, in a devastating conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.

However, fighting in the poverty-stricken Arabian peninsula country had been largely frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022.

This week the Houthis announced a maritime blockade of the top oil exporter, hitting Saudi tankers in the Red Sea.

The threat to shipping comes in parallel to Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has become the central flash point between Tehran and Washington amid renewed hostilities between the two sides.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday their forces stopped four ships attempting to transit the strategic chokepoint over the past 24 hours.

A fresh incident involving a tanker and unspecified military forces was reported on Saturday near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitor.

The US did not announce strikes on Iran, a first after 13 nights of consecutive bombardments.

- 'Tipping point' -

US President Donald Trump said he had not yet decided whether to launch major strikes on Iran, hours before the escalation between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, because Tehran was now getting "serious" in talks with Washington.

"No, I haven't," Trump told journalists in the Oval Office when asked if he had made a decision on hitting Iran hard.

"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."

Trump said Iran had a choice between making a deal or facing a "much higher level" of strikes, after nearly two weeks of US attacks that have left an April ceasefire in tatters.

The war that Trump once predicted would last four or five weeks is now nearing its fifth month, and is weighing on the Republican's approval ratings ahead of crucial US midterm elections in November.

Trump added that he did not know what the "tipping point" would be for a decision, but reiterated that his red line would be if Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon.

The United States says it is carrying out the strikes to stop Iran closing the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has responded with strikes on US bases that have killed four service members.

burs-csp/dc

R. Borges--JDB