Houthis fire on Saudi Red Sea oil sites

By Federico Maccioni, Timour Azhari and Eman Abouhassira

RIYADH, July 25 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday and Saudi-backed forces bombed the Houthis, as the war in the Gulf that has disrupted global supplies extended to a second front.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had targeted and successfully struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu.

Video shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed a large column of smoke rising from the direction of the Aramco refinery in Jizan.

Two Asia-based trading sources said that they had been informed of potential damage to fuel and oil storage sites at Jizan. Aramco did not respond to requests for comment on the incidents.

In Yanbu, two ballistic missiles aimed at oil installations were intercepted by a U.S.-made Patriot battery operated in Saudi Arabia by the Greek military under an agreement with Riyadh, Greek security sources said.

Yanbu is Saudi Arabia's main Red Sea oil port, where millions of barrels a day are loaded, and has become the main route out for Saudi oil skirting the Strait of Hormuz that has been blockaded by Iran. Jizan, which is located on the Red Sea close to the Yemeni border, is the site of a refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.

In Yemen, the air force of the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government that has fought against the Houthis for more than a decade carried out airstrikes on Houthi missile and drone launch sites and arms depots in the Marib and al-Jawf provinces, Yemeni officials told Reuters.

Earlier, the Saudi-led military alliance opposing the Houthis said it bombed Houthi military positions on Friday in the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah.

The Yemeni officials said both sides in Yemen's civil war were mobilizing forces along the front.

SAUDI-LED COALITION STRIKES HODEIDAH

Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition battling against the Houthis for more than a decade since the Iran-aligned fighters captured Yemen's capital Sanaa and swathes of territory in the north and west, including the Red Sea coast.

The Yemeni civil war, during which hundreds of thousands of people died from fighting and famine, has been paused under a ceasefire since 2022. But that truce has broken down this month, with the Houthis effectively joining the wider war their Iranian allies have waged since being attacked by the U.S. and Israel.

The Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia over the past week, and Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said all Saudi oil facilities would be targets if Riyadh escalated its involvement in the conflict.

The move threatens to extend disruption to global oil supplies from the Iran war, and contributed in recent days to one of the war's sharpest rises in global oil prices with Brent crude spiking above $100 a barrel for the first time since May.

'MILITARY PUNISHMENT'

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday vowed "major military punishment" for Tehran and the Houthis after the Houthis said they had struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday.

The Saudi-led 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 hostile actions.

Yemen's Houthi-run foreign ministry said that Friday's strikes on Hodeidah marked the start of a phase of "escalation for escalation", and held Saudi Arabia responsible for any resulting developments.

Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV said the Saudi strikes hit facilities belonging to the state telecommunications corporation in Hodeidah city. The broadcaster also said Saudi forces targeted Kamaran Island, off Yemen's western coast.

Early on Saturday, Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber said in posts on X that the kingdom would continue to support the entry of ships to Hodeidah Port despite Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

The port's operation was a key matter of international concern during the Yemen war a decade back, with a Saudi blockade on it at the time blamed for aggravating hunger and deprivation.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Enas Alashray, Ahmed Tolba, Timour Azhari, Lefteris Papadimas and Trixie Yap; Editing by Nia Williams, Rosalba O'Brien, David Gregorio, Cynthia Osterman and Susan Fenton)