Saudi Arabia Issues Danger Alerts for Yanbu and Five Other Cities as Brent Trades Near $107

Saudi civil defense authorities sent alerts on Tuesday morning warning of possible danger in six cities, including Yanbu, the kingdom's main Red Sea oil port, where millions of barrels of crude are loaded each day. The other cities named were Jeddah, Taif, Abha and Jazan. Authorities later said the alerts had been lifted and gave no further detail. Saudi officials said the kingdom would respond firmly to attacks by the Houthi movement, which controls much of northern Yemen.

Oil prices rose on the warnings. Brent futures traded around $107 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate near $103, after a rally of more than 9 percent the previous week. Saudi Arabia had already shut its East-West pipeline, the line that carries crude from the kingdom's eastern oil fields to the Red Sea coast, after drones launched from Iraq targeted it.

The Financial Times described the pressure on Riyadh as a two-sided campaign by the Houthis and by Iraqi armed factions, and called it the most serious challenge Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has faced in years. The Houthis say their attacks are a response to American and Saudi actions in the regional war. Saudi officials describe the attacks as strikes on civilian infrastructure. Both sides are targeting the same thing: Saudi energy export capacity.

The campaign is also depleting the arsenal on the American side. A United States military assessment reported by The Hindu found that munitions spending in the Iran war has produced strategic inventory shortfalls and exposed bottlenecks in the industrial base that resupplies interceptors and precision weapons. Air and missile defense determines how long Gulf export infrastructure stays protected from this kind of attack, and that resource is finite.