Il Nuovo Postiglione - Houthis vow retaliation for Saudi strikes as conflict deepens

Riyadh struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida on Friday, with rebel media reporting two wounded after the Yemeni group announced a maritime blockade of the top oil producer and hit its ships.

The flare-up marks a new front of the war that has engulfed the region following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February, and comes on top of Iran's parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh's only other maritime route.

"The Saudi enemy's targeting of civilian facilities in Hodeida and Kamaran island constitutes a dangerous escalation," the Houthis' Ansarollah media posted on Telegram.

"We affirm that these recent crimes will not go unanswered."

A Yemeni security source told AFP a naval base in the port city of Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran island were among the Saudi targets.

The Saudi-led coalition said it hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets threatening commercial vessels in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The strikes came after the Houthis claimed attacks on two Saudi ships this week, with Saudi Arabia confirming one of the attacks in the Red Sea.

"The terrorist Houthi military... targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea," Turki al-Maliki, the Saudi-led coalition's spokesman, said on X.

The coalition "carried out a decisive and strong response" targeting Houthi military sites used to threaten Red Sea shipping and that the "military response is now over", he added.

- Blockade -

Hodeida residents reported hearing explosions, including close to the port.

"Air strikes targeted the telecommunications building near the eastern gate of Hodeida port and the naval base at Ras al-Kathib in Hodeida," the security source said, requesting anonymity.

The Houthis' al-Masirah television said two people were wounded -- a worker in Hodeida and a woman on Kamaran island.

It said a telecoms building had been hit in Hodeida.

On Monday, the rebels had warned in a radio message to ships that they would target vessels "belonging to (the) Saudi enemy" that do not comply with their blockade.

Saudi state media cited a transport authority official on Friday as saying "the vessel (NCC MASA), belonging to a Saudi company, was targeted while sailing in the Red Sea today... resulting in minor damage to the vessel's hull".

The ship resumed its course, the SPA added.

Red Sea access has become vital for Saudi Arabia to keep shipping oil as traffic in Hormuz is disrupted.

In April and May, all of Saudi seaborne crude exports departed from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, according to Kpler data. It represented 92 percent of all seaborne crude exports in June and 78 percent so far in July.

The Houthis have been at war with Yemen's government since 2014, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The recent exchange of fire threatens a 2022 truce that has held despite expiring.

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G.Palmiero--INP