SANAA — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on Saudi Arabia today as fighting between regional allies of the United States and Iran intensified on a new front.

Houthi media said the rebels targeted the Saudi city of Jizan on the Red Sea and Saudi’s civil defence issued warnings in the area on the kingdom’s south-west coast as well as in Yanbu to the north.

A post by Ansarollah media on Telegram said the strike had sparked fires in Jizan and a video circulating on social media, and verified by AFP, showed dark clouds rising above a refinery belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco in the city.

Earlier, the Iran-backed group accused US ally Saudi Arabia of a “dangerous escalation” after Riyadh struck Houthi targets yesterday.

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 renewed exchange of fire between the US and Iranian allies signals the emergence of a new front in the Middle East war following US and Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February.

Faiza, a 36-year-old mother of two and Hodeida resident, told AFP the strikes were like “the sound of loud thunder”, explaining she had heard three distinct explosions.