World News by Wild Rose

Oil rose a second day as uncertainty over progress in US-Iran talks weighed against signs of strong demand and a resumption of flows through a key pipeline from top exporter Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has started exporting oil using a key cross-country pipeline after the link was repaired following drone strikes earlier this month, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Parents across Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh received messages from schools on Sunday announcing a last-minute plan to shift to remote learning for a week. There was no official reason given but the move comes amid heightened tensions in the Gulf and near-daily attacks aimed at Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen.

Seven people were killed and 40 injured in a Saudi airstrike on a market in Yemen’s Taiz province, as Houthi forces advance and Saudi-led air raids intensify.

Defence chiefs from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan have been meeting in Riyadh to discuss support for Saudi Arabia.

Just a month after Saudi Arabia signed a regional mutual defence deal with Pakistan and Turkey, attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against the kingdom’s energy infrastructure and military sites are testing the pact’s limits. At a hastily convened meeting of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in Riyadh on Friday, military chiefs of the three parties reaffirmed their commitment to collective defence, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The agency said the talks focused on “intelligence cooperation,...

Saudi Arabia intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles on Thursday after warning several regions, including Mecca, of possible attacks. France said it would send military assets to help protect the Saudi oil terminal at Yanbu. The strikes came amid renewed fighting in Yemen that has killed dozens, according to sources cited by AFP.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the whole international community should take responsibility for containing the Houthi threat.

Saudi Arabia’s crude shipments in September jumped to the highest level since the start of the Iran war, after the kingdom quickly ramped up exports via the Strait of Hormuz following an attack on its key bypass pipeline.

Saudi Arabia’s nearly trillion-dollar wealth fund, one the world’s biggest sovereign investors, is considering increasing its allocation to fixed income assets and award a mandate to Pacific Investment Management Co.

Saudi monarch's rare condemnation hints at sense of urgency in the kingdom amid ramped-up attacks from Yemen.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on ⁠Monday he had ⁠agreed to a request ⁠from Saudi Arabia to provide defensive air-to-air refuelling for a limited time period, a move he described as helping to stabilise the wider region. Riyadh requested support after the Houthis, who control ‌the most populous parts of Yemen, intensified their attacks on Saudi Arabia, a new front in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. “We have received a request from the...

Saudi Arabia is weighing Washington’s refusal to help fend off Houthi attacks after Riyadh requested US assistance, despite the two countries being longstanding allies and President Donald Trump and his family maintaining close personal ties with Saudi leaders. France 24 International affairs commentator Douglas Herbert shares further details on this alliance.

Ankara expresses readiness to assist Riyadh as Houthi attacks escalate, testing a recent trilateral defence agreement.

Fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia continues to intensify. On Saturday morning, a fire broke out near Riyadh's main airport after Houthis said they launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia. On the ground in Yemen, Houthi rebels are pushing east in their fight against Saudi-backed government forces. Story by Caroline Baum.

Nawaf Obaid tells Al Jazeera that Saudi Arabia’s response to Houthi attacks from Yemen will be massive.

Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of smoke were seen near the city’s main airport. Saudi Arabia had sent alerts overnight warning of potential danger around Riyadh, amid an escalation in attacks by the Houthis in the kingdom. Reuters video and photographs ‌showed a huge pillar of black smoke rising in the area, with the airport highway, main terminal building and other...

The King Khalid International Airport incident caused hours of flight disruptions and comes amid an escalating conflict with Houthi rebels in Yemen.

⁠Flames and plumes of smoke ‌were ⁠seen ‌rising near ⁠Riyadh airport this afternoon with flights cancelled and delayed. This as fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels has killed 48 people in recent hours. The rebels staged a lightning offensive this month, seizing swathes of territory in Yemen and launching a barrage of missiles and drones toward Saudi Arabia. Details and analysis by FRANCE 24 international affairs editor, Jamie Smith-Maillet.

A plume of smoke and flames rose near Riyadh's main international airport on Saturday and residents reported hearing loud booms hours after Saudi authorities issued the first alert for the country's capital since the latest escalation with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. An Aramco fuel tank near the airport was reportedly on fire, according to a journalist in Riyadh. 

Asian economies heavily dependent on imported energy are facing an even sharper squeeze after the shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline removed a key escape route from the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, deepening an energy shock that has already pushed crude oil above US$100 a barrel. Analysts said the loss of that bypass would hit Asian refiners first before feeding through to inflation, currencies and economic growth across the region. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil...

Saudi Aramco told at least two oil refining customers in Europe that they will be allocated no crude oil next month after the kingdom’s key pipeline to the Red Sea was attacked, people informed of the decision said.

Alison Sargent is pleased to welcome Grégoire Roos, Director of the Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programmes at Chatham House. According to Roos, Russia’s parliamentary election is revealing because of what the electoral process can still tell us about the political system Vladimir Putin has constructed. In the absence of any meaningful competition, and anti-war opposition excluded, Roos argues that the most revealing signals may lie elsewhere: in turnout, the timing of voting, the performance of the remaining parties, and the Kremlin’s effort to frame participation itself as evidence of national unity.

Saudi Arabia faces a “humiliating dilemma” after the United States refused to militarily intervene to prevent the Iran-aligned Houthi militia from tightening its blockade of the kingdom’s key backup maritime trade route with Asia, according to analysts. US President Donald Trump on September 12 dismissed the Houthi seizure of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast as a problem that “only affects one country”. Iran has already blockaded the Straits of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia’s main oil and petrochemicals...

Saudi Arabia has lobbied the US for years to buy F35s, the world's most advanced fighter jet.

The US has approved a US$24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 stealth warplanes to Saudi Arabia, the State Department said Thursday, the kingdom’s latest major arms purchase since the start of the Iran war. Saudi Arabia has long sought to buy F-35s, but officials from Israel – currently the only country in the Middle East to operate the jets – have voiced concern about their sale to Riyadh despite a push for the kingdom to normalise relations. “The proposed sale will improve Saudi Arabia’s capability to...

Oil held a drop on signs that supply disruptions in the Middle East are set to ease, with Saudi Arabia seeking to restore capacity of its damaged East-West pipeline. Global fuel markets have been squeezed by the combined impact of the US-Iran conflict and the war between Russia and Ukraine, with Kyiv pummeling Moscow’s refineries. Bloomberg's Will Kennedy breaks down the situation. (Source: Bloomberg)

Saudi Arabia is seeking to return about half the capacity of its cross-country oil pipeline within days after the link was halted following drone attacks. Bloomberg's Stuart Livingstone-Wallace has the context. (Source: Bloomberg)

Saudi Arabia accused Yemen’s Houthis on Wednesday of launching an attack on the holy city of Mecca, which the Iran-backed rebels denied. Saudi Arabia, a US ally which has been the target of large-scale Houthi strikes since early September, declared Mecca a “red line” as it slid deeper into the new front of the Iran war.

Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has turned to regional and Western allies for help as its stand-off with Houthi rebels in Yemen drags on, two regional officials said on Wednesday. The officials said the Saudis have asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air-defence support to the region to help defend against missiles and drones fired by Houthis and other Iran-backed groups. The outreach was initiated because Saudi Arabia’s main ally and arms supplier, the...