Saudi Arabia and Houthis exchange strikes as Yemenis flee Red Sea fighting

Taif, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh cross-border strikes on Thursday, while Yemenis fled fighting by boat across the Red Sea.

The escalation has created new threats to global oil supplies amid a widening Middle East war.

Air strikes and drone attack

Houthi-controlled television reported Saudi air strikes in Yemen’s Hajjah province near the Saudi border and Red Sea coast, as well as near Taiz further inland to the south.

Saudi civil defence said a Yemeni resident in Saudi Arabia was killed by debris from a drone intercepted over Taif. It was the first death announced by Riyadh in repeated Houthi attacks since fighting escalated last week.

Saudi Arabia has previously said that more than 80 people were wounded in the attacks.

Displacement and Red Sea crossings

In Djibouti, on the African shore of the Red Sea, 50-year-old Wahida Omer arrived after fleeing by small boat across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Yemen.

Omer said her home village of Dhubab came under attack as the Houthis moved into the area. Her husband remained behind, and she said she did not know whether he was alive, dead or captured.

“The sea was frightening, difficult,” she said in an interview filmed by the International Organization for Migration. She said those on the boat were crying throughout the journey and arrived with nothing to eat.

The IOM said more than 100,000 Yemenis have been displaced by the latest fighting, mostly within Yemen.

Claims by both sides

The Houthis, who have seized Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast since last week in a rapid advance, said the Saudi Air Force had carried out hundreds of air strikes in recent days. The group has fired missiles and drones at targets across the border.

On Wednesday, the Houthis said they shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet. Video released overnight showed fighters at the charred wreckage of a crash site holding a piece of a military aircraft wing bearing Saudi insignia.

“We want the Saudis to cease their blockade and occupation of our country, and to stop their aggression against us. This is our demand!” Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech.

Energy supply concerns

The spread of the conflict to Yemen and Saudi Arabia threatens to worsen the global energy supply shortage that has developed since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February.