US embassy in Israel issues security alert over Houthi-Saudi Arabia fighting

The US embassy in Israel issued a security alert on Saturday in light of escalated fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and a Saudi coalition that supports the internationally recognized government of Yemen.

The alert instructed US citizens in Israel  to “exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.”

Other US missions across the Middle East, including the US virtual embassy in Iran, issued similar security alerts.

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“US diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted,” the security warnings read. “Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions.”

The alerts were published hours after the Houthis said that they had launched missile strikes at “sensitive sites” in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Firefighters were seen extinguishing a blaze on a fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil giant Aramco at a fuel depot near Riyadh’s international airport earlier on Saturday.

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Saudi Arabia later confirmed that the Houthis had fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn, but said its air force had “successfully intercepted and destroyed” it.

The US embassy alert noted that the Houthis have targeted civilian airports in the past, and that “the military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly.”

“Americans traveling to or from the region should monitor information about airport and airline operations,” the security alert stated, adding that both the embassy in Jerusalem and the branch office in Tel Aviv were operating as normal.

The US Embassy in Israel has issued similar alerts several times in recent months due to the war with Iran, but this appeared to be the first published due to fighting between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has developed as a new theatre of conflict in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran at the end of February. US President Donald Trump has rebuffed Saudi requests for direct US military intervention against the Houthis.

The Houthis, who ⁠control ​the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, ​have been launching attacks against Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red ​Sea.

The attacks have targeted Saudi cities, energy infrastructure and shipping, creating new threats to global oil supplies and putting at risk the main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded.

The UN Security Council in a statement on Friday, “condemned in the strongest terms continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children.”

In the statement, the Security Council also condemned “Houthi military escalation in Yemen.”

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