Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen have carried out airstrikes against Houthi military sites in the western port city of Hodeidah, in response to attacks on Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea, while the Yemeni rebels launched a missile attack on a Saudi city, widening the Middle East conflict.
“We carried out a proportionate military response operation against legitimate military targets belonging to the terrorist Houthi militia in Hodeidah governorate,” coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Malki said on X, adding that the operation had ended.
The strikes came after the Iran-backed Houthis threatened to target Saudi vessels that did not comply with their maritime blockade and claimed attacks this week on two Saudi ships. Saudi Arabia confirmed one of the attacks.
A Yemeni security source told AFP that a naval base in Hodeidah and a military camp on Kamaran Island were among the targets.
Yemen’s Houthi-run foreign ministry said on Friday that the strikes marked the start of a phase of “escalation for escalation”.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television said two people were injured — a worker in Hodeidah city and a woman on Kamaran Island.
In a statement, Al-Malki said on Saturday that Hodeidah port had not been targeted and that all Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Salif, remained open to maritime navigation and were receiving commercial ships.
He also said no airport had been targeted in order to keep airports open to air traffic, but accused the Houthis of refusing to allow flight operations at Sanaa International Airport.
The Saudi coalition said it would continue taking necessary measures to protect its ships and Saudi Arabia’s interests, and would respond “uncompromisingly” if the Houthis continued what it described as hostile actions.
The escalation marked the first reported exchange of fire between coalition forces and the Houthis in years, threatening a fragile truce that has largely held since 2022 despite formally expiring.
On Friday, Saudi state media cited a transport authority official as saying the Saudi-owned vessel NCC MASA had been targeted while sailing in the Red Sea, causing minor damage to its hull. The ship resumed its journey, SPA reported.
The latest flare-up comes as disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has increased the importance of the Red Sea route for Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter.
In April and May, all of Saudi Arabia’s seaborne crude exports departed from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, according to Kpler data. The port accounted for 92 percent of seaborne crude exports in June and 78 percent so far in July.
The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2014 in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Saudi Arabia’s envoy to Yemen, Ambassador Mohamed AlJabir, said the Kingdom continues to seek and support all efforts aimed at achieving de-escalation and “a comprehensive political solution that would put an end to the suffering of the Yemeni people.”
But the Houthi militia insists on pursuing a path of escalation and violence “to serve foreign agendas,” he said, in an apparent reference to Iran.
“This militia has turned Yemen into a bargaining chip in the hands of external parties, to be used at will to serve their interests at the expense of Yemen’s security and stability,” AlJabir said in a series of posts on X.
He further noted that while Saudi Arabia supports the entry of ships into the ports of Hodeidah to meet the needs of the Yemeni people, “the Houthi militia continues to carry out its cowardly attacks on civilian commercial ships in the Red Sea, threatening the freedom of international navigation and the region’s security.”
Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi city
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Saturday, after vowing retaliation against the kingdom for attacks this week.
It came after US ally Riyadh struck Houthi military targets on Friday, following the Yemeni group announcing a maritime blockade of the top oil producer and hitting its ships in the Red Sea.
The rebels accused Saudi Arabia of a "dangerous escalation" and said its actions "will not go unanswered".
The Houthis' Ansarollah media said on Telegram early Saturday that fires had broken out in Jizan following a "Yemeni missile attack".
Riyadh's civil defence agency had issued brief warnings to residents in Jizan and Yanbu for "potential danger", only to lift the warnings minutes later.
The flare-up marks a new front of the Middle East war that has engulfed the region following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February, and comes on top of Iran's parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh's only other maritime route.
US military fires on tanker
The US military said Friday it had fired on and disabled a tanker ship that was attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports.
"We disabled the tanker after the crew attempted to run the blockade at least four times prior," Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, spokesman for US Central Command, told AFP.
"The crew was repeatedly warned, didn't comply, and US forces on scene disabled the ship after firing into its engine room," he said. "The ship is no longer transiting to Iran."
Trump weighs harder strikes
US President Donald Trump said Friday he had not yet decided whether to launch major strikes on Iran, as the renewed conflict threatened to widen across the region with Saudi Arabia striking Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Trump said he would hold off on a major operation as Tehran was now getting "serious" in talks with Washington, for now dialing back reports that he was increasingly frustrated with the state of the war and mulling a large-scale military operation against Iran.
"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 a 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.
The Iranian military said Friday it had carried out attacks targeting US military assets in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait in retaliation for Washington's latest strikes.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, said they had targeted an Amazon data center in Bahrain, according to state media, though neither the US tech giant nor Bahrain has commented on the claim.
There was also no confirmation from the US of any targeting of its facilities or personnel.
In Bahrain, sirens sounded again early Saturday, the interior ministry said.
"Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place," the ministry said on X.
- 'I trust them' -
In his comments, Trump also insisted Russia and China were not arming Iran, despite reports both were feeding Tehran intelligence to target US forces.
"President Xi (Jinping) said he will not partake, and President (Vladimir) Putin said the same thing... I trust them," Trump told reporters. "I don't think they'd want to have me disappointed."
On the diplomatic front, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi in Kyrgyzstan.
Wang called for an early resumption of negotiations and the implementation of a memorandum of understanding aimed at easing tensions in the Middle East and the Gulf region, Xinhua reported.
This referred to the preliminary deal aimed at ending the war which has collapsed as the foes fight to break a deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz.
"The door to negotiations, once opened, should not be closed, and as long as there is hope for peace, it should not be given up," Wang said.–Agencies