Houthis join fray by firing ballistic missiles at Israel

• Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain hit by Iranian missiles, drones; strike wounds US troops at Saudi airbase
• Drone strike disrupts shipping hub in Salalah
• Explosions rock Tehran as Israeli attacks intensify; Iran halts steel production
• IRGC warns of retaliation against regional economic infrastructure
• Israel reports 5,689 wartime injuries; hospitals under pressure
• Vance says US nearing exit but war to continue a ‘little longer’

TEHRAN: Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced their entry into the Middle East war on Saturday by launching a barrage of ballistic missiles towards Israel, while Gulf countries came under missile fire and Israeli forces struck Iran, as the war raged into its second month with Washington expressing hopes for progress in talks with Tehran.

The intervention of Iran’s Yemeni allies in the US-Israel war on Iran will spark concern about disruptions to Red Sea shipping, with trade from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz already choked off.

With Hormuz all but impassable, many shipments to and from the region go through the Omani port of Salalah, on the Arabian Sea, but Danish shipping giant Maersk said operations had been temporarily suspended there after a drone attack injured one worker and damaged a crane.

With no end to the conflict in sight despite US President Donald Trump’s optimism that US forces have obliterated Iran’s military, a spokesman for the Houthis issued a video statement declaring that the group had launched ballistic missiles towards Israeli bases.

Meanwhile, Emirati authorities said debris from a successful missile interception started fires at an Abu Dhabi industrial zone, injuring five Indian nationals.

Saudi Arabia also said it had intercepted a missile and several drones, and Bahrain said a blaze caused by the “Iranian aggression” had been brought under control.

In Israel, repeated air raid sirens sent people to shelters. Israel’s health ministry said that a total of 142 people had been brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, bringing Israel’s total wartime injuries to 5,689, Al Jazeera reported.

Of those injured, 132 remain hospitalised, 15 of whom are in serious condition and one of whom is in critical condition, according to the ministry.

An Iranian missile and drone attack on the Prince Sultan Air–base in Saudi Arabia wounded at least 12 American soldiers, two of them seriously, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified officials.

Iran’s military said on Saturday that it had targeted a US logistics vessel near the Omani port of Salalah on the Arabian Sea. Oman said a drone attack on the port wounded a foreign worker.

Air travel has also been disrupted. On Saturday, authorities in Kuwait and in the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan said airport facilities had been damaged in strikes.

Fire also broke out after Iranian missiles and drones hit the Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, injuring six people. The firm Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) reported significant damage from the attack on its facility.

In Iran, meanwhile, production was shut down at a major steel plant in the southwest after US-Israeli strikes, according to a statement from the Khuzestan Steel Company, cited by the Shargh newspaper.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned they will retaliate for any economic damage by striking industrial sites across the region. The Guards also said that they had found and dismantled more than 120 unexploded cluster bombs, alleging they were dropped during US and Israeli attacks several days ago on the southern province of Fars.

Separately, US Central Command (Centcom) denied claims by Iran’s Guards that US “hideouts” in Dubai were struck, leaving 500 casualties.

Israel announced fresh strikes on Tehran and an AFP journalist in the city reported around 10 intense blasts and a plume of black smoke overnight.

A military spokesperson claimed that Israel had attacked 100 targets in Iran, including ballistic missile production sites, launch pads and air defence systems, Al Jazeera reported.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian sent a message to other countries in the region, warning: “If you want development and security, don’t let our enemies run the war from your lands.”

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the country will “accelerate” the collapse of the Israeli military and government.

In a post on X, he says that according to the Israeli military chief, Tel Aviv’s military “will collapse into itself”, referring to a warning from Israeli military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir a day prior that the armed force could collapse as a result of endless fighting.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday he believes Iran would hold talks with Washington “this week, we’re certainly hopeful for it”.

Washington expected Tehran to respond to a 15-point US peace plan, he told a business forum in Miami. “It could solve it all.”

US Vice President JD Vance also addressed the war on Iran during an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, noting Washington is “going to be out of there soon”, Al Jazeera reported.

Vance claimed that while the US had achieved the majority of its military objectives, Trump plans to continue the war “for a little while longer” to ensure Iran’s government is severely hampered.

In a separate development, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Gulf to discuss using his country’s experience in anti-drone technology to better defend the region from Iranian strikes.

“We are talking about a 10-year cooperation. We have already signed a relevant agreement with Saudi Arabia, we have just signed a similar agreement with Qatar, also for 10 years, we will sign one with the Emirates,” Zelensky told reporters.

Qatar announced a fresh missile interception on Saturday, its first in a little over a week.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2026