Five killed in Houthi, Yemen govt, Saudi Arabia attacks

Saudi Arabia ⁠and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh strikes across their border and Yemenis took to boats in the Red Sea to escape fighting, as the spreading Middle East war created new threatst o global oil supplies.

Houthi-controlled television reported Saudi air strikes in Hajjah province close to the Saudi border near the Red Sea coast, and the vicinity of Taiz further inland to the south.

Saudi Arabia's civil defence said a Yemeni living in Saudi Arabia had been killed by debris from a drone intercepted over the western city of Taif, the first death Riyadh has announced in repeated Houthi attacks since fighting escalated last week.

It has previously said more than 80 people were wounded.

The spread of the war to Yemen and Saudi Arabia has raised new concerns about oil supplies by jeopardising the main alternative route for Gulf exports while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained.

US President Donald Trump has rebuffed pleas from the Saudis for military support to fight the Houthis, who agreed a ceasefire with the United States last year after Washington bombed the group for two months.

The president faces the prospect of ‌political losses for his Republican Party in November's midterm elections, partly because ⁠of higher energy prices since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February.

Mr Trump said today he is approaching a critical juncture over whether to restart massive attacks on Iran.

"I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me," Mr Trump said in an interview with Axios.

Mr Trump has in the past threatened major new attacks that havenot materialized.

Global crude prices eased slightly today but remain well above $100 a barrel after reaching their highest levels since May. The average US retail diesel price hit a record high today, just shy of $6.40 a gallon.

The ‌United States and Iran have held no negotiations to end the war since an interim agreement reached in June collapsed within weeks.

But the war will come up for discussion at the United Nations General Assembly next week, and an Iranian delegation will be able to attend, according to the US ⁠State Department.

Over 100,000 Yemenis displaced by latest fighting

The IOM says more than 100,000 Yemenis have been displaced by the latest fighting, mostly within Yemen.

The Houthis, who have seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coast since last week in a lightning advance, say the Saudi Air Force has conducted hundreds of airstrikes in recent ⁠days. Yesterday, the Houthis said they had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet.

"We want the Saudis to cease their blockade and occupation of our country, and to stop their aggression against us. This is our ⁠demand!" Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech, seated with a traditional dagger in his belt.

Slogans on the wall behind him read: "Death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews, victory for Islam."

The US Navy is trying to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet to the Gulf along Iran's coast, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war, and is also imposing a blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran says the strait is closed and will remain shut until Washington lifts the blockade. It is seeking an agreement with neighbouring Gulf states that would let it collect fees from ships passing through the strait.

War in Yemen and attacks on Saudi Arabia have jeopardised the main alternative route for Gulf oil, with the Houthis capturing ‌the Red Sea coast and islands inside the Babel-Mandeb or "Gate of Tears", the strait at its mouth.

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