The Houthis have launched fresh drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, a TV channel linked to the Iran-aligned movement said on Tuesday. The report comes amid the chaos set off by the attacks on the oil ships of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the weekend.
Seven drones carried out attacks on vital Saudi installations on Tuesday, the Masirah TV reported, according to Reuters. The agency says it is not clear if the Houthi group was claiming responsibility for the tanker ship attack near the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis are engaged in a fierce battle with the Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen. The Houthis had launched multiple drone attacks on Saudi Arabia in the past. They have also targeted UAE, an important ally of Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday's report doesn't specify which Saudi installation was targeted.
Oil ship attack at Fujairah
On Sunday the UAE said four commercial cargo ships were attacked off its eastern coast, near the Hormuz Strait. A day later, Saudi Arabia confirmed that four of its vessels were also targeted by sabotage attacks at the Fujairah port. Apart from Saudi and UAE ships, some foreign oil carriers were also attacked. The scale and damage of the attacks aren't disclosed as yet.
A day before Saudi Arabia and UAE revealed the attacks took place, Lebanon's pro-Hezbollah Al-Mayadeen satellite channel had said seven oil tankers of the UAE were involved in an explosion in the Fujairah port. The USE had denied this report.
Saudi Arabia hasn't reacted to reports of Tuesday's attacks, Reuters said. Iran called for more information on the purported attack on vessels at Fujairah Monday, saying it was the result of "conspiracy orchestrated by ill-wishers". It also said the attack was the result of "adventurism by foreigners", in a veiled attack on the US, which has been shoring up military presence in the region.
However, some Iranian media outlets had said the Houthis in Yemen may have launched the attack. Saudi Arabia and the UAE got involved in the Yemen war in 2015 when the Shia group ousted the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Sensing the hand of the Iran, the Shia power base in the region, behind the development, Saudi Arabia and the UAE formed a Sunni Muslim military alliance to fight off the Houthis.
The Strait of Hormuz holds a strategic significance as more than 25 percent of the world's crude passes through it. The rising sabre-rattling by the US and Iran over the nuclear pact and sanctions on Tehran has ratcheted up tensions in the region.
