Houthis Claim Missile Strikes on Riyadh and Aramco's Yanbu Terminal, Pushing Brent Above $108

Yemen's Houthi movement said it fired ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at what it called a "sensitive target" in Riyadh and at Saudi Aramco facilities in the Red Sea city of Yanbu. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said both operations achieved their objectives, and that dozens of missiles and drones also struck Saudi military command centres, weapons depots and launch sites in the southwestern Jazan region, causing hundreds of casualties. Saudi Arabia confirmed only that it intercepted six ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and the Yanbu area. Riyadh has not confirmed any strike on the capital, any damage at Yanbu or any casualties, and Saudi civil defence issued no emergency alert for Riyadh. The claims on casualties and damage therefore rest on the two sides' own statements.

Oil traders treated the target list as the material change. Brent crude briefly passed $108 a barrel before settling 3.4 percent higher at $106.60 on Thursday, then slipped about 1 percent toward $105.50 on Friday as Iran and the United States kept a diplomatic channel open on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Iran has offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington lifts its naval blockade, waives oil sanctions and observes a ceasefire. Yanbu matters because it is the terminus of the East-West pipeline and the kingdom's main crude outlet that does not require passage through Hormuz. Aramco has already shifted volumes back to Ras Tanura on the Gulf coast, moving roughly 60 million barrels for September and October delivery mainly to Chinese and South Korean refiners.

France has moved further than either of Saudi Arabia's two Mecca Joint Defence Agreement partners. President Emmanuel Macron said Paris will send soldiers, radars and defence systems to protect Yanbu, describing the mission as defensive and not a French entry into the war. He gave no troop numbers, no equipment types and no arrival dates. That makes France the first outside power to commit forces to the kingdom's defence rather than only political or logistical support.

Saudi Arabia has called an urgent meeting on implementing the mutual defence pact it signed with Turkey and Pakistan on August 7. Turkey's defence ministry confirmed that chief of the general staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu will travel to the kingdom, and Pakistan's chief of defence forces Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected in Riyadh, Al Jazeera reported. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Turkish broadcaster NTV that Saudi Arabia "may have some military needs, especially on some technical issues," and that Turkey "would have no issues in meeting these," though neither Ankara nor Islamabad has yet committed ground forces. The Houthis have issued direct warnings to both countries, which helps explain the caution in the two capitals.

The strikes follow a territorial advance. Houthi forces have taken the port of Mocha and most of Yemen's Red Sea coastline from Saudi-backed units. The National reported that the Saudi Grand Mufti called on troops to fight the Houthis, a religious endorsement that raises the political cost of restraint for Riyadh's partners. Pakistan is being courted from several directions at once. RIA Novosti reported that a joint Russian-Pakistani tactical exercise opened this week at Cherat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and at home Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf postponed its planned march on Islamabad by more than a week, easing near-term pressure on a government whose army is being asked to consider an expeditionary commitment.