Houthi rebel assault on Saudi Arabia installations marks latest escalation in regional security tensions
Houthi rebels claim drone attacks a response to Saudi"crimes" in Yemen. The assaults are the latest in a series of security challenges faced by the Middle East, following the alleged sabotage of oil tankers off UAE coast.
Yemen's Houthi rebels, whom the Saudi Arabia-coalition has been fighting against since March 2015, said they launched a series of drone attacks on the kingdom, across the border from Yemen. The kingdom's state security body also said two petroleum pumping stations in the greater region of Riyadh, the landlocked capital, were targeted at the same time.
Details of the alleged sabotage to two Saudi, one Norwegian and one Emirati oil tanker on Sunday remained unclear, and Gulf officials have declined to say who they suspected was responsible. But it demonstrated the raised risks for shippers in a region vital to global energy supplies as tensions are increasing between the US and Iran over its unravelling nuclear deal with world powers.
The US Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast and operates from a base in Fujairah, has repeatedly declined to comment. Citing heightened tensions in the region, the United Nations called on "all concerned parties to exercise restraint for the sake of regional peace, including by ensuring maritime security" and freedom of navigation, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
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