Houthis claim Saudi oil refinery strike as Middle East war widens

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed a missile strike on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery on Tuesday, as regional hostilities intensified with fresh military alerts in Saudi Arabia, diplomatic efforts involving Iran and Gulf states, and a high-stakes election in Israel.
Saudi Arabia said its forces intercepted two missiles targeting Riyadh, while Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani officials held talks with Iran in Tehran.
The Houthis also said they had attacked Saudi military aircraft and repelled an advance by Saudi-backed forces near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an important Red Sea shipping route.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the strike on the Ras Tanura refinery had caused a fire at the complex, which also includes a shipping terminal and is located on the Gulf, west of the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the strike.
Ras Tanura, which has a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day, was shut for a period in the early months of the Iran war as a precautionary measure. 
Nearly all Saudi Arabia’s oil exports flow through two main ports: Ras Tanura in the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea, both of which the Houthis have attacked in the past.
Bloomberg News cited a person familiar with the matter as saying Saudi Arabia had contained a fire near Ras Tanura’s terminal.
The Houthis said they had attacked two military transport jets at Najran Airport and an airbase in Khamis Mushait. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the attacks.
On Tuesday afternoon, civil defence authorities briefly issued an air raid alert in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Nearly all Saudi Arabia’s oil exports flow through two main ports: Ras Tanura in the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea, both of which the Houthis have attacked in the past.
Bloomberg News cited a person familiar with the matter as saying Saudi Arabia had contained a fire near Ras Tanura’s terminal.
The Houthis said they had attacked two military transport jets at Najran Airport and an airbase in Khamis Mushait. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the attacks.
On Tuesday afternoon, civil defence authorities briefly issued an air raid alert in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government said it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis towards Riyadh.
Saudi crown prince reviews Iran talks
On the Iranian side, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chaired a meeting in Riyadh Tuesday where he and his council of ministers reviewed talks held in Tehran with the Mecca alliance a day earlier, state media reported.
“The council reviewed the substance of the talks held between the countries party to the Mecca Common Defence Agreement and senior officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, reaffirming Saudi Arabia’s commitment to establishing security and stability,” read a statement released by state media.
Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan held talks with Iranian senior leaders in Tehran on Monday on the Middle East war, with Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei later calling the discussions “very good”.
Meanwhile, Iran’s navy said an oil tanker caught fire after striking naval mines east of the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the vessel of entering a prohibited area with its tracking systems switched off, state media reported.
Qatar, Iran discuss war, Hormuz
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met on Tuesday on the sidelines of a summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow and discussed the Middle East war and the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
The Qatari and Iranian leaders “reviewed the current state of relations between Tehran and Doha and emphasised the importance of deepening political and economic ties and making use of existing potential to strengthen bilateral cooperation,” Iranian state television said.
Record voters deliver wartime verdict on Netanyahu
Israelis surged to the polls on Tuesday at a pace that shattered records, to pass wartime judgment on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what voters described as the most consequential election in the nation’s history.
After casting his vote in Jerusalem, Netanyahu expressed worry over high voting among Israel’s Arab minority and warned of attempts to “steal the election”, a signal of a potential long fight ahead as he echoed his ally US President Donald Trump.
His main rival Gadi Eisenkot, a military ex-chief of staff and security hawk, aims to unseat him with the support of parties on the right and centre, as well as the rump of an increasingly marginalised left. Opinion polls show a close race, with neither leader facing an easy path to power.
In a message to supporters more than five hours after polls opened, Netanyahu urged them to vote, saying turnout was high among his opponents on the left and among Israelis of Arab heritage, around a fifth of the country.
“We need it to be high too. You all need to stream to the polls,” he said. “This is a fateful moment.”