Riyadh: The Middle East's energy crisis is no longer being fought around one waterway.
As fighting continues around the Strait of Hormuz, Iran aligned Houthi forces have opened another pressure point by attacking southern Saudi Arabia for a second consecutive day.
Saudi authorities said ballistic missiles and drones were launched towards Abha, Khamis Mushait and Jazan on Wednesday. The Saudi led coalition said the attacks continued to target national infrastructure and assets. Authorities issued a fresh emergency alert in Khamis Mushait on Thursday before declaring the area safe.
The latest escalation follows attacks a day earlier that Saudi authorities said injured at least 73 people across four southern cities and caused fires at oil installations. The Houthis said they had targeted an airbase in Khamis Mushait and oil infrastructure in the surrounding area.
Saudi Arabia has warned that it will respond to protect its sovereignty, national assets and civilians.
The Houthis, meanwhile, say their attacks are retaliation for Saudi military action in Yemen. Fighting between the two sides has intensified in recent months, raising concerns that the relative calm established after the 2022 UN brokered truce could be breaking down.
That matters beyond Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter, while the Red Sea provides an alternative route for energy shipments that cannot move through the Strait of Hormuz.
Now both routes are facing disruption.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies passed before the war, remains heavily affected by the US Iran confrontation. Reuters reported on Thursday that only seven vessels crossed the strait on Wednesday, around half the recent 10 day average. Brent crude was trading above 100 dollars a barrel.
The Houthi escalation therefore adds another layer to an already fragile energy system.
It also creates a difficult calculation for Saudi Arabia. Responding forcefully could deter further attacks, but a wider campaign in Yemen could deepen a conflict Riyadh had spent years trying to contain.
The stakes are already drawing Pakistan into the diplomatic effort.
Reuters reported that Islamabad has conveyed a Saudi warning to Iran urging it to restrain the Houthis. Pakistan has also reaffirmed its support for Saudi Arabia's security, while signalling that its role remains focused on preventing the conflict from widening.
For now, the geography of the conflict is changing faster than the diplomacy around it.
Hormuz is under pressure from one direction.
The Red Sea and Saudi energy infrastructure are facing pressure from another.
What began as a war involving Iran, Israel and the US is increasingly becoming a regional security crisis in which the world's energy routes are part of the battlefield.
And when the routes carrying the world's oil become targets, the consequences do not stay in the Middle East.
