Yemen’s Houthi forces launched missile and drone attacks against Saudi Aramco oil facilities in the Red Sea ports of Jazan and Yanbu on Saturday, triggering retaliatory airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition and sharpening fears of a new front in the widening regional war. A video verified by Reuters showed a large column of smoke rising near the Aramco refinery in Jazan, and two Asia-based commercial sources reported probable damage to fuel and oil storage sites in the area. Aramco itself has not commented. In Yanbu, Greek security sources told Reuters that a US-made Patriot battery operated by Greek forces intercepted two ballistic missiles fired at oil installations, and later shot down a drone in the same sector.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had successfully targeted Aramco facilities in both cities. The Saudi civil defence authority briefly issued emergency warnings for Jazan and Yanbu before announcing the danger had passed. In response, the air force of the internationally recognised Yemeni government, which is backed by the coalition, bombed Houthi missile and drone launch platforms and weapons depots in Marib and al-Jawf provinces. The coalition separately confirmed strikes on Houthi military positions in the port city of Hodeidah, including a naval base and a communications building. A Houthi political bureau member, Nasr al-Din Amer, warned that the group’s response would be “completely different” from previous rounds, while the Houthi-run media said the Saudi actions were a “dangerous escalation” that would not go unanswered.

The attacks have injected fresh uncertainty into global energy markets. Brent crude briefly surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since May, though prices later retreated after two Chinese supertankers transited the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The Red Sea route has gained strategic weight for Riyadh because the US-Iran war has severely disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz; Saudi Arabia now pipes millions of barrels per day to Yanbu for export. Houthi officials have said they do not intend to close Bab el-Mandeb entirely, but at least nine vessels have altered course since the group declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia earlier in the week, and a Saudi-flagged tanker was damaged in a separate attack.

The Houthi blockade, which the group describes as retaliation for a years-long Saudi “siege” on Yemen, has been accompanied by warnings that all Saudi oil facilities are now legitimate targets if Riyadh escalates its military involvement. Deputy Foreign Minister Abdullah Basri, speaking for the Houthi-aligned administration in Sanaa, said the period of “neither war nor peace” was over and promised a “comprehensive, harsh and powerful” response to further Saudi actions. The escalation unfolded on a day when, for the first time in two weeks, no new US or Iranian strikes were reported, though President Trump warned that Washington would hold Iran responsible for future Houthi attacks. With both the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition signalling further operations, the Red Sea littoral faces a heightened risk of sustained military exchange.