Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile strike on Saudi Arabia on Saturday, hours after vowing to retaliate against the kingdom for attacks as the Middle East war expanded.
Riyadh struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida on Friday, with rebel media reporting two wounded after the Yemeni group announced a maritime blockade of the top oil producer and hit its ships.
The flare-up marks a new front of the 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.
The rebels had 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 a “Yemeni missile strike” had sparked fires in the southern Saudi city of Jizan on the Red Sea.
