Saudi Arabia strikes Houthi-held Hodeidah, Yemeni group says

Saudi Arabia has launched strikes on Yemen's Houthi-held city of Hodeidah, the group's Foreign Ministry has said, in the latest escalation of the conflict amid the regional war between the United States and Iran. The ministry warned that the attack late on Friday will prove costly for Riyadh, suggesting that the group will respond to the strikes. By targeting Hodeidah, the Saudi regime has made 'escalation for escalation' the defining feature of the coming phase, said the Foreign Ministry. The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV said the strikes targeted facilities belonging to the telecommunications authority. The outlet also reported strikes in Kamaran Island. Explosions were also seen at Hodeidah's port, though the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has denied targeting the port. Major-General Turki al-Maliki, the official spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, blamed the Houthis for the escalation, calling the group's attacks on Red Sea shipping cowardly and reckless. On Wednesday, the Houthis announced that it had targeted several Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea with drones and missiles, damaging at least one. The Houthi blockade, announced on July 20, was framed by leaders as an eye for an eye response to a strike on Sanaa's international airport a week earlier, which the group blamed on Saudi Arabia. The tit-for-tat strikes between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia risk further escalation in the region and additional global economic fallout if Red Sea shipping is disrupted. Yemen's Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdul Salam said earlier on Friday that the group is not blocking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The announced Yemeni position is limited to a naval blockade targeting only the Saudi side in response to its siege of Yemen.