Houthis fire on Saudi Red Sea oil sites

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.