Saudi Crown Prince Seeks Egyptian Support Amid Houthi Advances and Oil Infrastructure Attacks

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman traveled to Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi seeking diplomatic support as Yemen's Houthi rebels escalated attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and Red Sea shipping. A strike on Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline, reportedly carried out by Iran-allied militias in Iraq, has forced a shutdown expected to last weeks and reduce global oil supply. Houthi forces seized the port of Mokha and three strategic islands near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, tightening their grip on a key maritime chokepoint. The renewed fighting has killed more than 500 people in a single week and displaced nearly 94,000, according to the World Health Organization.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's crown prince held talks with Egypt's president to build regional backing amid a series of Houthi strikes targeting the kingdom's shipping routes and infrastructure, attacks that some analysts have connected to upward pressure on global oil prices. Saudi Arabia found itself largely isolated diplomatically as the Houthi movement, backed by Iran, advanced its territorial control across Yemen over the preceding week and strengthened its ability to threaten oil transit through the Red Sea. The Houthi offensive has drawn additional parts of the Middle East into armed confrontation while bolstering Iran's standing in the region — a country that has historically been at odds with Saudi Arabia and has previously disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. According to unverified accounts, Houthi fighters took control of the Red Sea port of Mokha and three islands situated near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait during the preceding days. So far, Riyadh has held back from mounting a large-scale military operation against the Houthis, weighing the possibility that such action could invite attacks on its oil infrastructure and pull it back into a wider armed conflict in Yemen, the nation along its southern frontier. The coalition Prince Mohammed built to counter the Houthis in 2015 had fractured well before recent events due to internal disagreements, and one analyst noted that he was aware of this fragmentation and intended to chart a more unified course, though the extent of that effort would depend on how many parties could be brought on board; in a separate development, Houthi military operations have resulted in considerable losses for forces aligned with the Saudi-backed administration in Yemen, including those of the internationally recognised government, rekindling hostilities that had been largely suspended under a ceasefire arrangement dating to 2022. In the first week of September, 43 children were counted among those killed or wounded — the highest weekly figure the organisation had logged in a year — with its Yemen director, Rishana Haniffa, noting that minors were absorbing an outsized share of the heaviest armed violence the country had seen in years. A post on X attributed to Anees al Asbahi, a Health Ministry spokesperson operating under Houthi administration, indicated that aerial bombardment of Yemen's Taiz province left three people dead, including two children. Thirteen people were wounded and homes along with parked cars suffered damage in southern Saudi Arabia after missile and drone attacks attributed to Houthi forces on Monday, a military spokesperson said.

Saudi Crown Prince Seeks Egyptian Support Amid Houthi Advances and Oil Infrastructure Attacks

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Saudi Crown Prince Seeks Egyptian Support Amid Houthi Advances and Oil Infrastructure Attacks

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