PM Shehbaz 'strongly' condemns Houthi attack on Saudi civilian, energy sites

• Houthis strike four Saudi cities.
• Oil facilities set ablaze in attacks.
• Coalition vows decisive response.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has "strongly" condemned the Houthi attack targeting Saudi civilian and energy facilities, terming it a "cowardly" act that endangered innocent lives and threatened regional peace and security.

In a statement on X, the prime minister expressed Pakistan’s unwavering solidarity with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the people of Saudi Arabia.

His statement came hours after Yemen’s Houthis launched attacks on four cities in southern Saudi Arabia, targeting civilian areas and energy infrastructure. 

The strikes reportedly injured more than 70 people and sparked fires at oil facilities, marking what appeared to be a significant escalation in the six-month-old conflict that has heightened tensions across the Middle East.

PM Shehbaz emphasised that such attacks not only put civilian lives at risk but also undermine regional stability and security. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast support for the Kingdom’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity.

"Such dastardly attacks threaten innocent lives as well as regional peace and security. We reaffirm our steadfast support for the Kingdom’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity, and pray for the swift recovery of all those injured," PM Shehbaz added.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office condemned in the "strongest possible terms, the reprehensible attacks carried out by the Houthi militia" against civilian and economic targets in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said that these attacks are a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom, pose a threat to the peace and stability of the entire region, and undermine efforts aimed at securing a peaceful and durable resolution of the conflict in Yemen.

“Consistent with the UN Charter and international law, Pakistan fully supports the Kingdom's legitimate right to take all necessary measures to defend its territory, protect its citizens and residents and safeguard its national assets against any threat,” the statement added.

“Pakistan has been and will continue to make all efforts for achieving lasting peace and stability in the region.”

The Houthis, who control most of Yemen's populated areas including the capital, said they had launched a broad operation deep into Saudi territory.

They used drones and missiles to strike a Saudi airbase in the southern city of Khamis Mushait, and targets belonging to Saudi Arabia's state oil company in nearby Abha, Najran on the Yemeni border and Jazan, a major Red Sea port city that houses a large refinery and power plant.

Saudi authorities described blazes at the sites and said women and children were among the 73 people hurt. The reports of such large numbers of wounded suggested the attacks were among the biggest carried out against Saudi Arabia since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in February.

Confirmed images of the aftermath of the Houthi attacks in Saudi cities were not immediately available, and witnesses could not be reached in a country where media is tightly controlled. The Houthis released pictures showing thick smoke and explosions of what they said were trucks from Saudi Arabia that they had hit in separate strikes at the border in another area further east on Monday.

Houthi-controlled media reported later on Tuesday that Saudi warplanes had carried out four airstrikes in Yemen's Jubah district east of the capital Sanaa.

After a month of calm in August, fighting in the Gulf has resumed, with Iran and the US exchanging fire, sending global oil prices back up to levels unseen since July. Brent crude prices were up more than 2% on Tuesday, above $99 a barrel.

Houthi attacks on southwestern Saudi Arabia have the potential to worsen the war's global economic impact by disrupting Middle East energy supplies beyond the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition battling against the Houthis in Yemen for more than a decade. That war had calmed in recent years, but a ceasefire there has broken down, with the Houthis threatening shipping at the mouth of the Red Sea.

The International Organisation for Migration said more than 18,500 people had fled their homes because of fighting along Yemen's west coast over the past three days.

'Maritime exclusion zone'

"The coalition will take all necessary operational measures to deter this terrorist militia and resolutely confront its hostile approach," Colonel Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, said in a statement on X.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree accused Riyadh of having escalated the war by launching air strikes on Yemen, and said the Houthis would respond.

The wider war in the Gulf has turned into a test of wills between the US and Iran, with each side hoping that economic pressure from competing blockades will force the other to yield.