By Kathleen Magramo, Eyad Kourdi, Becky Anderson, Tim Lister, Nadeen Ebrahim

(CNN) — Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a major attack on southwestern Saudi Arabia early Tuesday, targeting oil and other infrastructure in an escalation that risks widening the region’s conflicts and adding further pressure to crude prices.

Saudi-led forces vowed a resolute response, saying dozens of civilians had been injured. The Saudi Energy Ministry said the attacks had also caused fires at several facilities in the southern region, temporarily halting some operations.

The attacks mark a dramatic escalation in the Saudi-Houthi conflict, which flared up again in July, shortly after the US-Iran ceasefire unraveled, with Houthi missile attacks on Saudi oil facilities and tankers in an expansion of the Middle East war.

Oil prices on world markets rose more than 1% after Tuesday’s assault, as traders worried that Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea would be put at risk. Riyadh has rerouted most of its crude through the Red Sea port of Yanbu since the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose above $100 per barrel for the first time since July.

At least 73 people, including women and children, were wounded, said Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led Coalition Forces, who described the attacks as “dangerous” and “senseless.”

Houthi forces targeted “civilian and economic sites” in the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, and Najran, according to Al-Maliki.

In a statement Tuesday, the Houthi military said the attacks were in response to more than 100 Saudi airstrikes in Yemen over the past three days that it claimed had killed many people. It said it had fired “dozens of ballistic missiles and drones.”

Plans for retaliation

The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition – the Saudi-led grouping that has been fighting the Houthis during Yemen’s decade-long civil war – will “resolutely confront (the Houthis) hostile approach,” Al-Maliki said.

“The kingdom affirms its legitimate right to take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said on X.

A source familiar with Saudi thinking told CNN that Riyadh is planning to retaliate and has informed allies about its plans.

Saudi diplomats had notified US lawmakers in August of a breakdown in political channels with the Houthis and the rebels’ plans to escalate against the kingdom, and sought Washington’s backing to push back, the source said.

“(The Saudis) are aligned with CENTCOM on the next steps and have made European partners aware too,” the source said, referring to the US military’s Central Command, and adding that retaliation had “always been the fallback plan should the Houthis attack.”

It’s unclear what form or intensity that retaliation would take.

Yahya Saree, the Houthi group’s spokesperson, said Wednesday that Saudi warplanes had carried out 54 airstrikes over the past 12 hours. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to the claim.

“These strikes and the ongoing aggression against our country will not go unanswered or unpunished,” the spokesperson said.

The kingdom is also working to bring other countries, some of which had been wary of being seen as joining the US war with Iran, into efforts to push back against the Yemeni rebels, the source said.

In late July, Saudi Arabia joined the US in striking Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq that, according to a US official, had directed attacks against the kingdom.

At the time, the source familiar with Saudi thinking told CNN the message to both the Iran-backed militias in Iraq and to the Houthis was: “We are not going after you. But if you make us come after you, we will. And you won’t like what you see. “

Tuesday’s Houthi attacks drew swift condemnation from Saudi Arabia’s regional allies. Egypt described them as “a dangerous escalation”, while Jordan and the United Arab Emirates said the barrage violated Saudi sovereignty.

The strikes showed “unacceptable disregard for civilian lives and the security of the countries of the region,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said. Kuwait and Turkey echoed the regional condemnation.

The European Union also condemned the attacks, calling on the Houthis to cease attacks inside and outside Yemen, including on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that “the US has a very strong defensive military relationship with Saudi Arabia, and we’re watching those events very closely.”

“It’s been going on for some time. I think we’ve got some ground operations as well,” Rubio said, noting that “Yemeni forces are taking on the Houthis and pushing back against some of the ground advances that they attempted to make.”

The US Embassy in Yemen said the Houthis “started this conflict and must bear the consequences of their aggression,” adding that Saudi Arabia has the right to defend itself.

Despite efforts to stay clear of America’s war with Iran, Saudi Arabia faced missile attacks from the Houthis in July, ending a fragile four-year ceasefire between the rebel group and the kingdom.

The Houthis also declared a blockade of Saudi shipping using the Red Sea – a vital outlet for the kingdom’s crude oil since Iran has sought to block the Strait of Hormuz. They have also targeted refineries on the Red Sea coast operated by Saudi oil giant Aramco.

Beyond Saudi security

“Saudi Arabia is now fighting a campaign whose consequences extend far beyond its own security,” wrote to Danny Citrinowicz at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“The outcome will affect freedom of navigation through one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints and the ability of both Iran and the Houthis to threaten international shipping,” Citrinowicz posted on X.

Besides Houthi drone and missile attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, fighting on the ground between the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen has erupted in recent weeks. Government forces claimed advances on several fronts on Monday.

The Houthis have used ballistic missiles and drones in strikes on the port of Mocha, which is controlled by government forces.

A seven-year conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis ended with a truce in 2022, but the Houthis have since demanded an end to Saudi attempts to isolate the large swathes of northern Yemen controlled by the group through a travel and economic blockade.

That blockade has perpetuated a humanitarian crisis in much of Yemen. A senior Houthi official, Nasr al-Din Amer, told CNN in July that Saudi measures were “sufficient to compel us to act more decisively than we have been doing. We do not need any other agendas.”

The latest Houthi attacks suggest the rebel group is ready to expand the conflict, despite substantial mobilization of Saudi forces near the border with parts of Yemen held by the group.

Amer said on Telegram Tuesday that the “ongoing, in-depth response far exceeds what is being circulated on social media and is much broader.”

‘Seige-for-seige’

Houthi forces would “uphold the equation of siege-for-siege until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted,” the Houthi military statement on Tuesday said.

The Houthis are “trying to gain more territory closer to Bab al-Mandab, the critical chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean,” according to Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group.

“That would benefit Iran as well, because then it can put pressure on not just the Strait of Hormuz as a critical choke point, but also Bab al-Mandeb,” the narrow strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.

There was the greater risk that “the conflict that seems to be rekindled in Yemen might take a life of its own and continue even beyond the end of hostilities between Iran and the US,” Vaez told CNN.

Riyadh has likely been preparing for a long-term conflict with the Houthis, according to Ali Shihabi, a Saudi author and analyst.

“Saudi Arabia has realized that the Houthis have not been reasonable and there is very little chance of reaching a political settlement with them,” Shihabi told CNN, adding that the Houthis “will need to suffer some losses to come back to the table.”

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

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