The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a large drone and missile attack on Saudi Arabia overnight, targeting the Jazan region and the Aramco refinery near King Abdullah Airport. The Houthis claim the attacks are retaliation for Saudi airstrikes across Yemen over the weekend.
🇸🇦🇾🇪 Yemen’s Houthis launched a major drone and missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s Jazan region, targeting an Aramco refinery, a bulk fuel plant and an area near King Abdullah Airport.
— NewsForce (@Newsforce) September 8, 2026
The Houthis say the attack was retaliation for 121 Saudi airstrikes across Yemen over the past… https://t.co/itT90u9LTI pic.twitter.com/WTpT5Vm7pW
The attack was a major escalation in renewed fighting between an important U.S. ally and the Iranian proxy group. It also threatened to further destabilize a region rocked by nearly three years of wars and deliver a new blow to the global economy.
Weeks of clashes have added pressure to limited global oil supplies as the Houthis target a shipping route Saudi Arabia has used to transport oil to world markets while the Strait of Hormuz is throttled due to the U.S.-Iran war. Tuesday’s attacks hit Saudi oil facilities connected to the alternative route, the Bab el-Mandeb, a strategic waterway off the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf Aden.
The conflict between Saudi Arabia, one of the U.S.’s closest Mideast allies, and the Houthis, a Shiite militant group armed and trained by Iran, goes back years.
The new fighting has threatened to reignite the country’s civil war, which began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power.
The Associated Press is reporting that 73 people were wounded, per Saudi authorities. This includes children.
Several energy facilities near Yemen halted operations after the strikes.
Saudi Arabia says operations at several energy facilities in the kingdom’s south were halted after attacks https://t.co/VHKfdcsv4j
— Bloomberg (@business) September 8, 2026
Video shared on X shows oil facilities and utilities on fire in the southern part of Saudi Arabia.
The Iranian backed Houthi rebel group have launched a series of attacks on Saudi Arabia - injuring more than 70 people.
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) September 8, 2026
The strikes hit oil facilities and utilities in the south of the country - setting off large-scale fires.
The fighting marked an escalation in the conflict… pic.twitter.com/4cedD2rVTK
Saudi Arabia has vowed to respond to the attacks.
The Houthis launched a broad attack on Saudi Arabia overnight, targeting Abha Airport, the Aramco fuel terminal in Abha, King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, the Jizan refinery, and the fuel terminal in Najran.
— Eli Afriat 🇮🇱 (@EliAfriatISR) September 8, 2026
Seventy-three people are reported injured, and the Jizan refinery… pic.twitter.com/7tD1IZEgn3
The country apparently plans to "finish the job" against the Houthis following these strikes.
The gloves are off. Saudi Arabia will finish the job against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia.
— Salman Al-Ansari | سلمان الأنصاري (@alansari) September 8, 2026
Saudi Ministry of Defense: "73 civilians, including women and children, were injured in attacks by the Houthi militia on civilian and economic facilities in southern Saudi Arabia." pic.twitter.com/hz0yl0co3B
There have reportedly been Saudi-led attacks in the Marib district of Yemen.
🚨 After the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia tonight, a report on the Houthi Al-Masira channel: four Saudi attacks in the Marib district of Yemen https://t.co/7dVYhN0tdO
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) September 8, 2026
Pakistan has condemned the attacks.
🔴 BREAKING: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemns in the strongest terms the Houthis’ “cowardly attack” on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/vrcx8O0B35
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) September 8, 2026
So did Qatar.
Statement | Qatar Condemns Houthi Targeting of Civilian, Economic Sites in Saudi Arabia
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) September 8, 2026
Doha | September 08, 2026
The State of Qatar condemns the Houthi targeting of civilian and economic sites in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran in the fraternal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,… pic.twitter.com/xjUbvkHejo
The Associated Press says the fighting could reignite the civil war that started in Yemen in 2014. During that war, the Houthis seized the capital and much of northern Yemen, forcing the government into exile. In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition intervened to restore that government to power.
The Houthis are part of a network of Iranian-backed proxies across the Middle East who have stepped up attacks in response to Israel's war in Gaza and the U.S.-led efforts against Iran.