Circuit Wire — a daily news update from the Circuit.
Iran-backed Houthi forces killed at least 30 Yemeni government soldiers on Thursday, August 6, firing eight missiles from al-Jawf into military camps in Hadramout and Marib, according to Al Jazeera. Yemeni sources said the missiles struck at 2pm local time, hitting Homeland Shield and Emergency Force positions where troops had gathered for a morning training exercise.
The barrage continued into Friday. The Houthis launched at least 12 more missiles at Hadramout and Marib, two government strongholds, while Yemeni air defenses downed several drones over Marib. Houthi fire also hit the kingdom's southern Najran province. Major-General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the strike wounded seven Saudis, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani, including a four-year-old child with second-degree burns.
The Gulf Cooperation Council's secretary-general, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, condemned the Najran attacks as "terrorist attacks." A senior Saudi official told Reuters that intelligence from Saudi, US and other regional services warned of coordinated strikes to come. Houthi forces and Iraqi armed groups, operating under the supervision of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, could soon target Saudi civilian sites, including energy infrastructure, ports and airports.
Riyadh is preparing to sign a defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey as it deepens security partnerships. In Iraq, the picture shifted through the week. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias, announced on August 7 that it would postpone its response to recent US-Saudi strikes, following mediation by Badr Organization chief Hadi al-Amiri, the Institute for the Study of War reported.
Iraqi security forces had moved regiments from Anbar, Salah al-Din and Ninewa toward Baghdad after intelligence indicated militias planned to attack Saudi Arabia within 48 hours. The exchanges are the deadliest in Yemen in years. They follow July 29 US-Saudi strikes on Popular Mobilization Forces headquarters in Iraq that killed more than 20 people, and weeks of Houthi attacks on Saudi shipping and Aramco sites at Jizan and Yanbu.
Roughly 30 percent of global container traffic passes through the Red Sea. Brent crude rose to $83.34 a barrel by Friday morning, after climbing more than $3 the day before.
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