A source close to the Saudi army told AFP that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey will sign a joint defence agreement on Friday in Jeddah. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will meet in the Saudi city. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.
Oil rises on concerns over Strait of Hormuz reopening plans
Oil continued its rise on Friday amid further concerns around the opening of the Strait of Hormuz
as Iran, working with Oman, suggested banning vessels deemed hostile from the strait and heavily fining those who violated the proposed rules.
Brent crude futures rose 99 cents, or 1.2%, to $83.48 a barrel by 0010 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate futures rose 85 cents, or 1.1%, to $78.84.
Oil futures settled up at over $3 a barrel on Thursday as Iran reviewed a bill to ban US and Israeli vessels from the Strait of Hormuz where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transmitted before the war began at the end of February.
Saudi military says Houthi attacks left 11 civilians, including a child, injured near Yemen border
More than 10 civilians, including a 4-year-old child, were injured in Saudi Arabia on Thursday after a series of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to the Saudi military.
The attacks, which took place in the southern region of Najran, near the Yemeni border, came hours after the Iran-backed rebels claimed responsibility for another series of strikes in central and eastern Yemen that killed at least 30 government troops and wounded at least 50 others.
A Houthi leader said Saudi-backed troops were targeted in the attacks and that “hundreds” were either killed or injured. The assaults hit camps for forces of the internationally recognized government in the provinces of Marib and Hadramout, the Yemeni officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Yemen‘s Iran-backed Houthis killed at least 58 government troops in missile and drone attacks, a military source said, after one of the deadliest days in the country’s civil war in four years.
US President Donald Trump told reporters that he believes the war with Iran would be over soon.
Israel refused in talks to withdraw from more areas of south Lebanon unless the Lebanese army had full control of an initial two “pilot zones”, a Lebanese presidential source told AFP.
