Civil War Erupts in Arabia, Trump Hesitates to Intervene

Tensions in the Middle East are intensifying, threatening global energy supplies. Yemen’s Houthi militia, allied with Iran, suddenly launched missile and drone attacks on oil facilities belonging to Saudi energy giant Aramco along the Red Sea coast. This brazen action comes amid a surprising move by the United States, which has chosen to ‘hold back’ from launching airstrikes on Iranian territory for the first time in the past two weeks. According to a Reuters report, the Houthi attacks struck Aramco facilities in Jizan and Yanbu. Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the Jizan oil refinery, a vital facility with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, in Yanbu, a major Saudi oil export hub, two Houthi ballistic missiles were intercepted by Patriot defence systems. The attack threatens to open a new war front on the world’s vital shipping lanes, as Yanbu and Jizan are key export outlets for Saudi oil, used to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which is currently blockaded by Iran. The escalation immediately roiled global commodity markets. The Houthi leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, publicly announced a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, threatening all of the kingdom’s oil installations. This sparked panic, with Brent crude prices soaring past the US$100 per barrel mark, raising fears of a new wave of global inflation. ‘We have received information about potential damage to the fuel storage facilities in Jizan,’ a source in the Asian energy trade said. Saudi Aramco has yet to issue an official statement on the incident. While Washington has held back from striking Iran, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have responded to the Houthi offensive by bombarding militia bases, weapons depots, and drone launch facilities in Marib, al-Jawf, and the port of Hodeidah. The civil war in Yemen, which had been paused under a 2022 truce, has now officially reignited, with both sides mobilising large-scale forces along the front lines, signalling the danger of a prolonged conflict that could further destabilise global energy supplies.