Saudi Arabia said its air defences intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Makkah before it could enter the prohibited airspace over the holy city, as the Kingdom faced a widening campaign of attacks by the Iran-aligned Yemeni group.
Saudi Arabia has shut down its East-West pipeline temporarily after the vital oil conduit came under aerial attack in the widening Middle East war, threatening to send energy prices even higher, said media reports. This 1,200-km pipeline had helped the kingdom bypass a shipping logjam in the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices extended gains on March 30, with Brent headed for a record monthly rise, after Yemeni Houthis launched their first attacks on Israel over the weekend, widening the US-Israel war with Iran in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has launched a major military operation against Houthi targets in Yemen after attacks on two Saudi airports killed three people and injured 36 others, with the coalition warning that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure “will not go unpunished”.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi has joined other nations to condemn the attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and expressed the bloc's full support for Saudi Arabia's measures to protect its security and infrastructure, reported the Saudi Press Agency.
