New Delhi: India has condemned the intense aerial attacks carried out by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
India said these attacks, which targeted civilians and economic infrastructure, pose a threat to regional stability and freedom of navigation along a major international maritime route.
Saudi officials said that 73 people, including women and children, were injured in these attacks on major oil facilities and public supply infrastructure such as electricity and drinking water in the cities of Abha, Jazan, Najran, and Khamis Mushait in the southern region of Saudi Arabia.
According to Saudi Arabia’s Ministries of Defense and Energy, the attacks caused major fires at oil stations and other energy-sector facilities. As a precautionary measure, oil production and operations in those areas have been temporarily suspended.
These attacks mark a significant escalation in a conflict that has repeatedly spilled beyond Yemen’s borders and poses a threat to critical energy infrastructure and maritime trade routes.
Major General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, said the Houthi attacks targeted civilian and economic sites. However, the Saudi-led coalition has warned that this attack is a grave violation. It will certainly be met with an appropriate response.
However, the Houthis said these attacks were carried out in retaliation for recent Saudi airstrikes on the prison in Yemen’s northern Jawf province, which is under their control.
India condemns
India has condemned the intense airstrikes carried out by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
In this regard, in a condemnation statement issued by Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, India condemns attacks on Saudi Arabia’s sovereign territory as well as on civilian and economic centers.
He said that the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which Saudi Arabia uses as an alternative route to transport its crude oil after the closure of the Hormuz Strait, are “unacceptable attacks that undermine regional security and stability in the Middle East and threaten freedom of navigation.”
This conflict has intensified amid rising tensions between Iran, the United States, and their regional allies. It could make conflicts across the Middle East even more interconnected. As a result, fears are growing that war tensions in West Asia will increase.
These remarks come after attacks carried out by the Houthis using ballistic missiles and drones against positions across Saudi Arabia’s southern region.
The Houthis have previously targeted Saudi territory and commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Bab al-Mandab is a strategically important chokepoint that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, and it also serves as a vital route for global trade and energy transport.