By REUTERS | POSTED BY TOE

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked a pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West ​oil pipeline and an oil facility in Yanbu on ‌its Red Sea coast, amid a sharp escalation in hostilities between the kingdom and the group.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a ​request for comment. The Houthis did not specify which ​day they had carried out the attacks.

The group has ⁠been firing ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi airports, ​ports and oil installations, turning US ally Saudi Arabia into a ​pressure point in a war that began with the US and Israel attacking Iran in February.

With the conflict in the Middle East disrupting oil ​flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh has rerouted about ​4 million barrels per day of crude via the East-West Pipeline to ‌Yanbu, ⁠equivalent to about 4% of global supply.

The pipeline has spared Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, from the brunt of the impact of the wartime shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz ​that has crippled ​exports from ⁠its neighbours.

Separately, the Houthi military spokesperson on Thursday denied that the group had targeted Mecca with ​two ballistic missiles that Saudi Arabia’s civil defence ​said ⁠had been intercepted and destroyed on Wednesday, with debris falling in the Mecca region, including in Sabuhah village.

The Houthis have repeatedly ⁠denied targeting ​Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest ​cities, rejecting previous Saudi-led coalition accusations that they had launched drones towards the ​cities.