An expert says Saudi Arabia is facing "the biggest threat to their production of oil since their kingdom was founded in 1932," as tensions escalate during Iran war.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Figure caption, BBC Verify has confirmed the footage was filmed in western Yemen. Footage verified by the BBC shows the wreckage of a Saudi F-15 fighter jet which the Iran-backed Houthi group says it shot down over Yemen. The US-made aircraft was downed using a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile as it conducted hostile operations over the Marib region, according to a Houthi statement on Wednesday. Experts have told BBC Verify the incident is a propaganda coup that shows the Houthis' military capability has advanced and they are prepared to further escalate its conflict with Saudi Arabia.

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Image caption, The Houthis denied they had targeted Mecca, where Islam's most sacred shrine is located Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Tuesday evening, according to the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Turki al-Maliki said the targeting of Mecca, which is the home of Islam's most sacred shrine and the focal point of the Hajj pilgrimage, was a disgraceful act. The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said attacks on Mecca and Medina province, where Islam's second holiest shrine is located, constituted an unacceptable and intolerable transgression. But the Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group that controls much of western Yemen, denied targeting Mecca and accused Saudi Arabia of fabrications and lies. There is no threat whatsoever from Yemen to the holy sites.

Despite pressure mounting for a clear way out of the war, meaningful negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain stalled. Here’s what each side has said regarding the status of peace talks, and how experts predict Iranian officials could use the Houthis’ disruption in the Red Sea to their benefit.

Houthis have built a sprawling sanctions-evasion network spanning Yemen ports, Iranian oil, cryptocurrency and hawala channels linked to Russia and China.

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Government forces have carried out dozens of attacks on Houthi positions across Yemen in the past 24 hours, the latest sign that a return to full-scale war in Yemen may be approaching. In the past day, government forces have carried out 81 attacks on Houthi positions that led to the "neutralisation" of a number of Houthi fighters and field commanders, government spokesperson Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili said Thursday. They "successfully" hit a target at Najran airport and an Aramco facility in the province, Saree said. There was no immediate confirmation of the attacks from Saudi Arabia. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which supports the Houthis, warned on Thursday that Saudi Arabia would be "unable to contain" the Houthis as the rebels ramp up attacks on the kingdom.

After the Houthi armed group in Yemen launched attacks on government military camps and gatherings last week using one-way attack drones, it killed and injured dozens of government soldiers. But the internationally recognised Yemeni government was quick to retaliate by employing remotely operated drones to attack Houthi fighters on the front lines. That development is significant in Yemen's decadelong conflict because it highlights the growing use of drones on the battlefield. Government military units have repeatedly broadcast video footage showing drones tracking their targets, dropping bombs, killing fighters, destroying armoured vehicles and damaging hideouts. "The government side is now acquiring a potentially important tactical capability of its own," said Marius Bales, a doctoral researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies.