28 March,2026 08:10 PM IST | Sanaa | mid-day online correspondent
People take shelter inside a tunnel near Abu Ghosh, Israel, as missile-warning sirens sound on Saturday. PIC/AFP
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed their first attack on Israel since the outbreak of the current West Asia conflict a month ago, marking their entry into the widening conflict between Iran, the United States (US), and Israel.
In a statement posted on X, the group - which controls most of northern Yemen and had targeted Israel with drones and missiles during much of the previous Gaza war - said it had launched ballistic missiles at Israeli military sites. A Houthi Spokesman issued a video statement declaring that the group had fired the missiles towards Israeli bases, describing it as the "first military operation" in support of Iran.
A few hours earlier, the Israeli military said it had identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory, with aerial defence systems operating to intercept the threat, news agency AFP reported. There were no reports of casualties or damage in Israel, and the missile was reportedly intercepted.
The development comes as the war, now entering its second month, continues to disrupt global shipping and energy supplies, with Iran claiming to have closed the Strait of Hormuz to vessels from hostile powers.
During Israel's recent war on Gaza, the Houthis - claiming solidarity with the Palestinians - had attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, but had largely sat out the latest escalation until Saturday.
The Red Sea route has gained even greater importance in the current war. Saudi Arabia has diverted a large proportion of its oil exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says it has closed to shipping from hostile powers, driving up energy prices worldwide.
With the Hormuz Strait effectively choked off, many shipments now pass through the Omani port of Salalah on the Arabian Sea. However, Danish shipping giant Maersk said operations there had been temporarily suspended after a drone attack injured one worker and damaged a crane. Iran's military claimed it had targeted a US logistics vessel near Salalah, while Oman reported that a drone attack on the port wounded a foreign worker.
Air travel has also faced major disruptions. Authorities in Kuwait and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan reported damage to airport facilities in strikes. In the United Arab Emirates, Iranian missiles and drones hit an industrial zone, sparking a fire and injuring five people.
The war erupted when the US and Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggering retaliatory Iranian missile and drone attacks. US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism that American forces have significantly degraded Iran's military capabilities, but no end to the fighting is in sight.
In Iran, production was shut down at a major steel plant in the southwest after US-Israeli strikes, according to the Khuzestan Steel Company as cited by the Shargh newspaper. Israel announced fresh strikes on Tehran, with an AFP journalist in the city reporting around 10 intense blasts and a plume of black smoke overnight.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sent a message to other countries in the region: "If you want development and security, don't let our enemies run the war from your lands."
In Jerusalem, AFP journalists reported two blasts after the military detected incoming missiles from Iran.
On Friday, an Iranian missile and drone attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia wounded at least 12 American soldiers, two of them seriously, according to reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal citing unidentified officials.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned they will retaliate for any economic damage by striking industrial sites across the region, having earlier issued similar threats against US military bases and hotels hosting American troops.
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday he believed Iran would hold talks with Washington "this week, we're certainly hopeful for it". Washington expected Tehran to respond to a 15-point US peace plan, he told a business forum in Miami.
"It could solve it all," he said.
Pakistan, acting as a go-between for US and Iranian officials, is set to host foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the crisis. Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul had earlier indicated expectations of a direct US-Iran meeting in Pakistan "very soon".
Meanwhile, Thailand has joined a small group of nations that secured safe passage for their oil tankers through the Hormuz Strait with Iranian approval. Indonesia said it was in "positive talks" to obtain a similar exemption.
The Houthi move has heightened concerns of a broader regional confrontation, with potential renewed threats to Red Sea shipping and further volatility in global oil and gas markets. As the conflict intensifies, both military actions and fragile diplomatic channels continue in parallel across the Middle East.
(With AFP inputs)
