Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, injuring over 70 people and damaging oil facilities and utilities. The strikes hit cities including Jazan, Abha, Najran and Khamis Mushait, escalating tensions between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces. The attacks have raised concerns over regional stability and global oil supplies.

Cairo, Sep 8: The Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen launched a wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and igniting fires at oil facilities and utilities in the kingdom, authorities said.

The attack was a major escalation in renewed fighting between an important US ally and the Iranian proxy group. It also threatened to further destabilise a region rocked by nearly three years of wars and deliver a new blow to the global economy.

Weeks of clashes have added pressure to limited global oil supplies as the Houthis target a shipping route Saudi Arabia has used to transport oil to world markets while the Strait of Hormuz is throttled due to the US-Iran war. Tuesday's attacks hit Saudi oil facilities connected to the alternative route, the Bab el-Mandeb, a strategic waterway off the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Fears mount of renewed war in Yemen