Yemen's Houthis strike at Israel in their first such attack since Iran war began

CAIRO/DUBAI, March 28 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launched missiles at Israel on Saturday, their first such attack since the start of the Iran war, heightening the risk ​that a conflict now in its fifth week could expand further across the region.

 

Speaking before the strike, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States expected to conclude military operations within weeks, but ‌the Houthis said they would continue their operations until the "aggression" on all fronts ended.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke to Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, whose government hosts a meeting with the Turkish and Saudi foreign ministers on Sunday to seek to ease regional tensions.

 

But there is no sign of an immediate diplomatic breakthrough and the war, launched with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the world economy with the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies.

 

On Saturday, Israel said it had carried out a wave of ​attacks on Tehran, targeting what the military said were infrastructure sites belonging to Iran's government.

It also hit targets in Lebanon, where it has resumed its war against Iran-backed Hezbollah, killing three Lebanese journalists in a strike on a ​media vehicle, Lebanon's Al Manar TV reported, as well as a Lebanese soldier.

 

Iran also kept up attacks after hitting an air base in Saudi Arabia on Friday and wounding 12 U.S. ⁠military personnel, two of them seriously, in one of the most serious breaches of U.S. air defences so far.

Israel, which regularly faced missile attacks from the Houthis before the war, confirmed a missile had ​been fired at it from Yemen. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

 

The attack pointed to a potential new threat to global shipping, already hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for about a fifth of global oil ​and liquefied natural gas supplies.The Houthis have shown an ability to strike targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they did in support of Hamas in the Gaza war.

 

On Friday they said they were prepared to act if what they called an escalation against Iran and the "Axis of Resistance" continued in the war.

If the Houthis open a new front in the conflict, one target could be the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen, a chokepoint for sea traffic towards the Suez Canal.

With midterm elections approaching in November, ​the increasingly unpopular war has weighed on President Donald Trump's Republican Party and he has appeared eager to end it quickly. Rubio said on Friday Washington was "on or ahead of schedule" and that military operations were expected to be concluded in "weeks, not ​months".

Rubio also told Group of Seven counterparts that European and Asian countries which benefit from trade through the Strait of Hormuz should contribute to efforts to secure free passage, echoing calls by Trump, who said the lack of support from NATO allies had implications for the ‌military alliance.

 

Washington's allies ⁠have been reluctant to be drawn into a war which could escalate further if Trump decides to deploy ground troops to try to open the strait.

 

Rubio said the U.S. could achieve its aims without ground troops but acknowledged it was deploying some to the region "to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge".

 

Washington has dispatched two contingents of thousands of Marines to the region, the first of which is due to arrive in coming days on a huge amphibious assault ship. The Pentagon is also expected to deploy thousands of elite airborne soldiers.