Saudi-backed forces 'run over surrendering Houthi rebels using armoured vehicles' as battle rages over Red Sea shipping route

Video has emerged appearing to show Saudi-backed Yemeni forces running over surrendering Houthi rebels using armoured vehicles as battle rages over control of vital Red Sea shipping routes. The graphic footage, posted on social media, shows Iran-backed rebels throwing their hands in the air to give themselves up before being mown down.The armoured truck also appears to drive over dead or wounded Houthi fighters in footage captured from the passenger seat. Jubilant cheers and shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' can be heard from the Yemeni soldiers inside the vehicles as rebels are struck down.In other footage appearing to show a number of Houthis on foot in the distance, gunshots can also be heard. It comes as Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi air power, continue to fight Iran-backed rebels for control of the vital Red Sea shipping lane. Last month the Houthis seized a number of strategic islands off the coast of Yemen, putting them in a position to threaten one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints.If they can seriously disrupt the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the consequences could extend far beyond Yemen, hitting oil supplies, global shipping, inflation and ultimately economic growth. Footage appears to show Saudi-backed Yemeni forces running over surrendering Houthi rebels in armoured vehicles A Houthi fighter tries to outrun the armoured truck before he is mown down. Pictured: A manual, titled 4x4 Multi-Purpose Armoured Vehicle, is seen on the dashboardA lightning advance by the Iran-backed group last month extended the wider Middle East conflict to a new theatre and further threatened global energy supplies.Oil prices surged above $100 after a drone strike shut a key Saudi oil pipeline, while Houthi advances threatened the Red Sea route Saudi Arabia was relying on to bypass the disrupted Strait of Hormuz.Brent crude rose 1.17 per cent to $106.92 a barrel, while the average US diesel price surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time last week as the war, compounded by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, further squeezed global supplies.The Iran war has forced Saudi Arabia to shift its exports away from the Persian Gulf, since Iranian attacks have stifled shipping through the gulf's sole exit, the Strait of Hormuz.Washington has so far rebuffed repeated pleas from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to join the fight in Yemen.The Houthis, who have controlled Yemen's capital since 2014, seized the country's Red Sea coast last month in an advance that routed forces of the Saudi-backed government.Saudi Arabia has launched hundreds of strikes in recent days on the fighters' positions in the highlands, the Houthis say.The Houthis retaliated with attacks on Saudi territory, including a strike targeting the capital Riyadh for the first time in years. The footage also appears to show wounded Houthi rebels be targeted by the Saudi-backed soldiers A commercial vessel is anchored off Yemen's coast at Bab al-Mandeb Yemen's military, backed by Saudi jets, attacked Houthi targets on Monday as they launched an ambitious campaign to recapture all territory from the Iran-backed group after its lightning gains during the Middle East war.The military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes, while 100 warplanes attacked at dawn, according to the Saudi-led coalition that supports Yemen's government.Yemen's government announced the lofty goal of retaking all Houthi territory – much of it held for more than a decade – on Sunday.Last month the Houthis seized swathes of coastline along the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb strait, a chokepoint for oil and cargo shipping.As the offensive began, a source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP that an attack on Sunday had again halted pumping in the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, a key conduit since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz.The long-running conflict in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries and neighbour of Saudi Arabia, has flared anew months into the Middle East war that has sent crude prices soaring.Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday that global oil stockpiles are 'scarily thin' owing to the US-Iran war, days after G7 nations agreed to release more of their inventories to ease supply concerns.'The system is already straining,' Mr Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London. 'And with precious little else the world can turn to, the supply resilience cushion is scarily thin.' Thick black smoke and flames erupted around the Aramco oil refinery in Riyadh last week as the Houthis launched a fresh attack, furthering fears of escalating oil prices around the world The Houthis have targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and tankers in the Red Sea since a ceasefire in Yemen's civil war unravelled in July.The group has accused the Saudi-led coalition of carrying out hundreds of strikes.A day after the new offensive was declared, Yemen's military spokesman announced over 1,000 'strikes against artillery and rocket launcher positions, defensive fortifications, approach and reinforcement routes, supply lines and logistics assets, combat reinforcements'.Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said 100 jets flew at daybreak as part of 'Operation Dawn of Yemen'.They provided 'round-the-clock air support for the Yemeni armed forces on the ground', he wrote on X.The strikes have yet to blunt ongoing Houthi advances on the ground.On Sunday, the group effectively encircled the key city of Taiz after cutting the main supply route linking the city to the interim government capital of Aden.However, Taiz residents remained defiant, vowing to stay and defend their city. A combination of satellite images shows the Saudi Arabia East-West pipeline before (top) and after (bottom) attacks'We cannot leave the city. It is impossible for us to leave. We will stay and die inside this city,' Fahmi Ahmed Ghaleb told AFP.'Throughout the earlier clashes with the Houthis, we also stayed inside the city.'Taiz city remains under the control of government forces but has long been encircled from the north, east and west by Houthi fighters and remains one of the main fronts in Yemen's war.The Houthis' surrounding of Taiz 'is a significant development, but I think it is still too early to say that we are witnessing a decisive turning point', Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst for Yemen at the International Crisis Group, told AFP.While the war in Yemen predates the Middle East war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, it has become the most active front in the wider conflict in recent weeks.Last week the rebels struck Saudi energy infrastructure in Riyadh, sending oil sites operated by Aramco up in flames. Yahya Saree, Yemen's Houthi military spokesman, said on Sunday that the group had launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on Aramco's sites in Riyadh and the oil-rich Khurais area in the kingdom's east.He said: 'Both operations successfully achieved their objectives. The strikes were precise, causing large fires at the targeted sites.'Footage showed huge fireballs and plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the sky following the ballistic missile attacks on Sunday.The attacks again halted oil flows in Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, according to a Saudi energy source.They said on Monday: 'The East-West pipeline was attacked again yesterday. A pumping station east of Riyadh in Khurais.'It wasn't targeted before. There was big damage and the pipeline stopped again.'The East-West pipeline has been targeted multiple times during the US-Israel war with Iran.Last month Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, shut the East-West pipeline, which runs about 1,200km (700 miles) between its main oil fields in the east and the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea.It followed attacks on Saudi oil facilities originating in Iraq, home to pro-Iran armed groups.Flows in the pipeline remained halted from September 11-22, according to commodity-tracking platform Kpler.The pipeline became essential for Riyadh's oil trade after Iran began blockading the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the war, choking its main export route.But the Islamic Republic on Sunday vowed to keep the vital waterway shut unless the US meets its demands and warned there is 'no military solution' to the situation.