The conflict in West Asia is putting growing pressure on Saudi Arabia and key regional shipping routes, with fresh alerts, attacks and military exchanges reported.
In Saudi Arabia, Civil Defence issued very brief emergency alerts in Makkah, Jeddah and Taif today, but the warnings were lifted within just a few minutes. Earlier, alerts had been issued and lifted in six cities, including Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea oil port. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has said that 13 civilians were injured and seven homes and two vehicles were damaged in Monday’s Houthi attacks on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif. The coalition said it will respond firmly and take necessary measures to protect the Kingdom.
The humanitarian situation in Yemen is also worsening. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has warned that rapidly escalating hostilities along Yemen’s western coast have displaced more than 100,000 people inside the country and forced thousands more to seek safety across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in Djibouti.
In the Strait of Hormuz, UKMTO reported that a vessel was hit by an unidentified projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Meanwhile, commercial vessel traffic through the Hormuz fell to just four commodity vessels on Monday, from ten the previous day, as per data available on Kpler – a platform tracking maritime flow and shipping data.
Overall, the conflict is now putting simultaneous pressure on Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, while diplomatic efforts between Iran and the Gulf states remain stalled after postponement of a meeting earlier scheduled on Monday.
