Houthi Drone Strike Hits Mecca, Oil Prices Surge Amid Tensions

Houthis fired a drone toward Mecca and brought down a Saudi fighter jet as tensions boil over in a region now bracing for an oil shock. The militant group says they shot down the warplane while also seizing Greater and Lesser Hanish islands in the southern Red Sea after striking a Saudi pipeline. These moves come just as fears swell that global supplies could tighten.

The Iran-backed fighters have been locked in a civil war against a Saudi-led coalition since 2014. Their actions have pushed Riyadh to reroute exports away from the Persian Gulf, where Iranian attacks choke shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the only exit for the gulf. On Tuesday morning, Brent crude climbed 1.17 per cent to $106.92 a barrel. The average US diesel price last week topped $6 a gallon for the first time as war drags on and Ukrainian strikes hit Russian refineries, squeezing global supplies further.

Back home in the UK, higher petrol, diesel, and airfare prices have pushed inflation to its highest level in five months due to disruptions from the Iran conflict. The Office for National Statistics put the rise at 3.1 per cent, up from 2.9 per cent.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree quickly dismissed Saudi claims that the group aimed at Mecca after widespread condemnation erupted. He said their operations target oil facilities and military bases far removed from sacred sites. 'Our operations target its oil facilities and military bases, which are far removed from the sacred sites,' he stated.

Mecca holds deep spiritual weight as the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad and the holiest city in Islam. Muslims who can afford it must make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime, drawing millions each year. The attempted attack on Mecca drew sharp rebukes across the Muslim world. Major General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led Coalition Forces, condemned the move on X as a hostile act designed to provoke millions of believers. 'This hostile attempt will also remain a black mark in the record of violations by the extremist terrorist Houthi militia, as a deliberate act intended to provoke the feelings of millions of Muslims,' he wrote. He vowed necessary and deterrent measures against the group.

On Wednesday, Houthis said they shot down a Saudi F15 fighter jet during hostile operations over Marib province. Saree claimed the aircraft was hit by a locally made air-to-air missile. 'The Yemeni Armed Forces, with Allah's aid and grace, succeeded in shooting down a Saudi F15 fighter jet while it was carrying out hostile operations in support of its military mobilisations in the airspace of Marib province,' he posted on social media. He also accused Saudi Arabia of launching 450 strikes.

Saudi Arabia depends heavily on the East-West Pipeline. This line stretches 1,200km across the country to carry crude from Gulf ports to Yanbu on the Red Sea. The pipeline runs through Hanish, the islands now under Houthi control after the rebels attacked it. With that lifeline threatened and air space contested, the stakes for global energy markets have never been higher.

Oil from the damaged line travels onward to tankers built for export. Authorities had no choice but to shut down the pipeline after a strike on Thursday that Saudi Arabia blamed on drones launched by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. Fixing the damage, which includes harm at a major pumping facility, could take three to five weeks, officials have said. The pipeline might work partially while repairs happen, one official noted, but they could not say how much oil would pass through. Since late August, the line has moved an average of 2.6 million to four million barrels per day. If flow stops completely, that volume is lost to the market, according to an analysis issued Monday by Rystad Energy, a research firm based in Norway.

Meanwhile, Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels kept expanding their threat to Saudi shipping routes out of the Red Sea by taking control of the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, government and Houthi officials said Monday. The islands sit 160 kilometers north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a choke point connecting the Red Sea to the open ocean and Saudi Arabia's key Asian markets. This advance also puts the Houthis just 20 miles from the US military base in Djibouti, on the other side of that strait. For more than a month, the group has struck Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, stepping up pressure on global oil prices and boosting Iran's leverage in its war with the US. Houthi threats have kept the Kingdom on high alert, with air raid warnings sounding across the country daily. A series of ballistic missile and drone attacks by the group wounded 13 civilians on Monday.

The rebels deployed on the Hanish islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, according to two government officials and a Houthi official. Last week, the rebels seized the port city of Mokha and the island of Mayun inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Government forces are now trying to rally and fight back. On Sunday, the military said it launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab, and elsewhere in Taiz province. A rebel spokesman said the Houthis fired dozens of missiles and drones at the King Khalid Airbase in the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, targeting hangars, radar installations, and ammunition depots. The statement on Monday by Saree did not specify when the strikes took place, but the Houthis often take hours or days to claim responsibility for attacks. General al-Maliki said the attacks struck civilian areas in Khamis Mushait and other nearby cities, injuring 13 civilians and damaging several houses and vehicles. He did not say whether the airbase had been hit.

The war with Iran has gouged Saudi oil production, which was down to six million barrels per day in August from nearly ten million in September the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency. The fighting has also displaced nearly 94,000 people in Yemen who have since fled their homes. Many of them do not have enough food or water because they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied, said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, a charity that operates in the area. Around 200 schools have been converted to shelters in southwestern Yemen to absorb an influx of families, said Basma Alloush, deputy director of communications at the International Rescue Committee, an aid group.