Saudi Arabia Shuts East-West Oil Pipeline After Drone Attack From Iraq

Saudi Arabia has suspended its East-West oil pipeline after a drone attack that Riyadh says originated in Iraqi territory, satellite imagery on Friday showed.

Baghdad confirmed the strike came from Iraqi soil, launched an investigation and closed its border. US President Donald Trump said Iran was “probably” behind the attack.

The pipeline closure came as fighting between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government re-erupted, producing the fiercest clashes in years. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported at least 46,000 people have fled their homes since the new clashes began last week.

On Friday, the Houthis captured Mocha and the last remaining stretches of the Red Sea coast not under their control, along with the strategic Mayun Island in the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The advance sent panic through government-held areas and caused mass displacement. Some of the fiercest combat took place in al-Jawf, Marib and al-Bayda governorates.

Yemeni government forces said they launched air strikes targeting Houthi fighters and vehicles along the Red Sea coast near Mocha. The Houthis said they used drones and missiles to strike the Sharurah military base in southern Saudi Arabia, targeting what military spokesman Yahya Saree called “weapons depots and command and control centres.”

The territorial gains cement the Iran-aligned group’s hold on the Bab al-Mandeb, a chokepoint for global shipping. Iranian officials praised the Houthi victories as a “divine triumph” but did not mention any imminent closure of the strait.

Aman Murshed, a mother of five displaced for more than five years in a camp in Taiz, said she fled again around 5am as fighting reached her camp. “The only priority was to carry the children and flee as quickly as possible, because any delay could mean death,” she said, adding that she walked more than two kilometres before finding a vehicle.

An estimated 22.3 million of Yemen’s roughly 35 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 5.2 million internally displaced people, according to OCHA figures. Aid workers say severe budget shortfalls have left them unable to meet the needs of newly displaced families.

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