Houthis Strike Saudi Oil Sites as US Halts Air Strikes

The Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast, but the US held back from launching air strikes on Iran for the first time in two weeks.

The attacks targeted sites belonging to Aramco, Saudi state oil giant, at Jizan and Yanbu. A video shared on social media showed a large column of smoke rising from the direction of the Aramco refinery in Jizan.

A US-made Patriot battery operated in Saudi Arabia by the Greek military intercepted two ballistic missiles aimed at oil installations in Yanbu.

The Yemeni civil war, which has already disrupted energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, could be spreading to a second major shipping route. Fighting between Iran's Houthi allies and Saudi Arabia reignited Yemen's own civil war.

Global oil prices soared this week, with Brent crude spiking above $100 a barrel for the first time since May.