Yemen’s Houthis launch missiles at Israel as attacks on Iran continue

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CAIRO/PARIS - Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched missiles at Israel on March 28, their first such attack since the Iran war began, heightening the risk that a conflict that has entered its fifth week could expand farther across the region.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had earlier said Washington 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 is hosting a meeting with the Turkish and Saudi foreign ministers on March 29 to seek to ease regional tensions.

But with no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough in sight, the war, launched with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb 28, has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the world economy with the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies.

On March 28, Israel said it carried out a wave of strikes on Tehran, targeting what the military said were infrastructure sites belonging to the Iranian government.

Iran also kept up its attacks, hitting an airbase in Saudi Arabia and wounding 12 US military personnel, two of them seriously.

The attack by the Houthis represented a potentially ominous new threat to global shipping, already severely disrupted by the effective closure of the critical Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for around a fifth of world oil supplies.

The group, which has launched regular missile attacks against Israel in recent years, has 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 Gaza after Oct 7, 2023.

On March 27, they said they were prepared to act if what they called an escalation against Iran and the “Axis of Resistance” continued in the war.

One obvious target for the Houthis would be the Bab el-Mandeb strait off the coast of Yemen, a key choke point for sea ​traffic towards the Suez Canal that could add to the turmoil in world trade.

The disruptions have already rippled across the world, adding to inflation pressures that have squeezed businesses and consumers, including those in the US.

With crucial midterm elections approaching in November, the increasingly unpopular war has weighed on Mr Trump’s Republican Party and he has appeared eager to end it quickly. 

Speaking on March 27 before the Houthi attack, Mr Rubio said Washington was “on or ahead of schedule” and expects to conclude military operations in “weeks, not months”.

He also told Group of Seven counterparts in France that European and Asian countries that benefit from trade through the Strait of Hormuz should contribute to efforts to secure free passage, adding to earlier calls by Mr Trump, who said the lack of support from NATO allies had implications for the West’s most important alliance.

“We would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we?” Mr Trump told an investment forum in Miami on March 27. “Why would we be there for them if they’re not there for us? They weren’t there for us.”

The charter underlying the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which has long been led by the US, says an attack on one member is an attack on all, requiring them to support one another.

But Washington’s allies, which were not consulted before the US and Israeli strikes, have been notably reluctant to be drawn into a war that may still escalate further if Mr Trump decides to deploy ground troops to try to open the strait.

Mr Rubio said the US 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 the coming days on a huge amphibious assault ship. The Pentagon is also expected to deploy thousands of elite airborne soldiers.

More strikes while Trump speaks of negotiations

As the fighting has continued and the economic impact has mounted, financial markets have reacted with increasing alarm.

Stock markets tumbled sharply on March 27 on fears the conflict will drag on, while the Brent crude oil benchmark topped US$112, up more than 50 per cent since the war began.

In the US, where Mr Trump is politically vulnerable to rising fuel prices, diesel in California hit a record average high of US$7.17 (S$9.24) a gallon, the American Automobile Association said.

Mr Trump has threatened to hit Iranian power stations and other energy infrastructure if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, a potentially devastating escalation that could trigger similar Iranian strikes against Washington’s Gulf allies.

But he has extended a deadline he imposed for this week, giving Iran another 10 days to respond.

In a post in English on the social media platform X, Iran’s President Pezeshkian said Tehran would “retaliate strongly if our infrastructure or economic centres are targeted”.

“To the countries of the region: If you want development and security, don’t let our enemies run the war from your lands,” he said.

Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey have been relaying messages between the warring sides, though Tehran has repeatedly asserted that there have been no negotiations with Washington.

Two people familiar with the back-channel efforts expressed doubt that direct talks would take place anytime soon.

As the war moved into its fifth week, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reported missile attacks early on March 28, with five people injured and fires reported after a missile was intercepted near Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port, one of the Gulf’s main deepwater container ports.

Kuwait International Airport was also targeted by multiple drone attacks that caused significant damage to its radar system, state news agency KUNA said on March 28.

At least five people were killed and seven injured after a US-Israeli attack on a residential unit in Iran’s north-western city of Zanjan, Iranian media reported early on March 28.

The Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran was also struck, media reported. REUTERS