Iran invited to join Mecca pact by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan: Report

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned that Saudi Arabia will be unable to contain the Houthis in Yemen as the rebels intensify their attacks. The Guards spokesman, Hossein Mohebi, stated that Saudi Arabia will certainly not be able to contain Yemen or remain safe from Houthi assaults. The Guards spokesman referred to the Houthis as Ansarullah, another name for the rebels.

The Guards spokesman's remarks come after a recent spate of attacks on Saudi Arabia, which have been met with retaliatory strikes from the kingdom. The Houthi attacks and their attempt to blockade Saudi Arabia's Red Sea ports have followed retaliatory strikes in early July following the arrival of an Iranian plane in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.

Yemen has been embroiled in a more than decade-long war, and the latest fighting has upended a 2022 truce between the Saudi-backed internationally-recognized government and the Houthis. According to a Yemeni minister speaking to AFP, the Houthis are plotting to seize land along the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital shipping artery that would allow them to further threaten the critical waterway.

Three Houthi military sources and a spokesman for Yemeni government forces battling the rebels near the waterway have confirmed to AFP that the Houthis are planning to advance south from their current territory.