[Anchor]
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched a missile strike on a government military base, leaving at least 53 people dead. With major facilities in Saudi Arabia also coming under attack, a sense of crisis is heightening across the Middle East, prompting the United States and Israel to consider resuming military operations against Iran.
Lee Hanseok reports from Washington.
[Reporter]
Casualties lie scattered around a heavily battered military barracks.
On October 19 local time, a ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen precisely struck a government military base in southern Yemen.
At least 53 people, including new recruits, were killed and some 200 others were injured.
This marks the largest-scale bloodshed since the Houthis declared the end of a truce last July.
The Houthi rebels claimed they also carried out massive retaliatory strikes on six locations across the Saudi Arabian mainland.
Targets included Aramco oil facilities at the Red Sea port of Yanbu, King Khalid Airport in the capital of Riyadh, and a major air base.
[Yahya Saree / Houthi Military Spokesperson : In our first operation, we struck Aramco facilities in Yanbu in two phases. We hit them accurately, causing massive fires at the target sites.]
Saudi Arabia, suffering massive blows from the ongoing Houthi attacks, ultimately postponed its largest investment event, the Future Investment Initiative—often dubbed the Davos of the Desert—to next year.
Amid the fallout from the Iran war spreading across the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video recording of his phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has publicly supported him.
[Benjamin Netanyahu / Israeli Prime Minister : Donald, we have unfinished business. As you said, we're going to finish it together.]
[Donald Trump / U.S. President : You are a great warrior. We're going to prove it.]
Reports also emerged that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a surprise visit to Israel on October 19 local time without prior notice and met with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Foreign media outlets reported that the two countries are discussing concrete plans to resume large-scale military operations against Iran.
The Financial Times reported, citing multiple senior Iranian officials, that in response to U.S. pressure, Iran could resort to a hardline card of withdrawing from the NPT, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and formalizing its nuclear armament.
(Video captured by Oh Jung-shik | Video edited by Jung Sung-hoon)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.