This strategic decision highlights the Kingdom’s growing commitment to preserving its natural heritage and achieving the Vision 2030 goal of protecting 30 percent of its land and sea areas.

The two new reserves are vital for maintaining marine biodiversity and supporting ecosystems that thrive along the Red Sea coast. These areas are known for their rich marine life, coral reefs, and stunning underwater landscapes that attract both scientists and nature enthusiasts.

The announcement marks another positive milestone in Saudi Arabia’s efforts to safeguard its environment while promoting sustainable tourism.

Located northwest of Jeddah, Ras Hatiba spans over 5,700 square kilometers of diverse habitats.

It includes extensive coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows — all crucial ecosystems that support endangered species such as green turtles, dugongs, dolphins, whales, and sharks.

The reserve’s pristine environment also plays a vital role in carbon absorption and coastal protection, making it an essential part of the country’s ecological balance.

Meanwhile, the Blue Holes marine reserve is a natural wonder of geological and biological significance. These rare circular formations, found along the southern Red Sea coast, were first identified in 2022.

Scientists have discovered more than 20 of these formations, each hosting unique ecosystems teeming with marine life including colorful fish, invertebrates, and sea mammals. Their discovery has opened a new chapter for Saudi marine research and ocean conservation.

By designating these two areas as protected zones, the Kingdom is moving closer to its target of 30 percent protection coverage by 2030.

Currently, nature reserves cover over 16 percent of the country’s total area — a significant leap from just a few years ago.

This increase underscores the government’s commitment to advancing sustainable development goals, promoting eco-tourism, and ensuring the long-term health of the nation’s marine resources.

These conservation efforts are aligned with Vision 2030’s Green Initiative, which emphasizes biodiversity protection, renewable energy, and reducing the impacts of climate change.

Protecting Ras Hatiba and the Blue Holes will not only preserve marine ecosystems but also help create eco-friendly opportunities for tourism, research, and community engagement.

Saudi authorities have also emphasized that local communities will play a role in maintaining these reserves. Through education and involvement in sustainable practices, citizens and visitors will be encouraged to contribute to marine conservation efforts.

This collaborative approach ensures that economic growth, tourism, and environmental responsibility coexist harmoniously.

The Kingdom’s bold environmental steps send a strong message of leadership in marine conservation across the region.

By protecting coral reefs and blue holes, Saudi Arabia is setting a global example of how economic progress can go hand-in-hand with nature preservation.

These efforts also enhance the country’s reputation as a forward-looking nation investing in both its people and the planet.

In the coming years, experts expect the Ras Hatiba and Blue Holes reserves to become global centers for marine research, biodiversity education, and eco-tourism.

With world-class scientific studies and carefully planned management, Saudi Arabia’s marine reserves could become models of sustainability for other coastal nations.

The inclusion of these two stunning marine reserves reflects a hopeful vision — one where development and conservation work together for the benefit of future generations.

By protecting these rare ecosystems, Saudi Arabia reaffirms its commitment to nurturing its natural treasures while moving steadily toward a greener, more sustainable future.

Trump praised U.S. military forces for executing aerial attacks targeting the Houthis’ bases, leadership, and missile defenses.

The United States launched a series of airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Saturday, with President Donald Trump pledging to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Iran-backed rebel group ceases its attacks on commercial and naval vessels in the region.

Trump also issued a stern warning to Iran, demanding that it withdraw support for the Houthis or face consequences. “We will hold Iran fully accountable for the actions of its proxy,” Trump declared.

Military Action and Presidential Statement

In a social media post, Trump praised U.S. military forces for executing aerial attacks targeting the Houthis’ bases, leadership, and missile defenses. He emphasized that the strikes were necessary to protect American interests and restore navigational freedom in the region.

“Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,” Trump wrote. “No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.”

The president announced the strikes while spending the day at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Casualties and Damage

The first U.S. strikes since Trump’s return to office reportedly resulted in at least 31 deaths and 101 injuries, according to Houthi sources. The casualties are said to include women and children.

The strikes targeted multiple locations, including the capital city of Sanaa, the northern province of Saada, and military sites near the Sanaa airport. Additional attacks were reported in the provinces of Hodeida, Bayda, and Marib.

Images circulating on social media showed plumes of black smoke rising over the affected areas.

Reasons Behind the Airstrikes

The strikes follow the Houthis’ recent announcement that they would resume attacks on Israeli-linked vessels in retaliation for Israel’s blockade of Gaza. The group had warned of targeting vessels in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Arabian Sea.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in late 2023, the Houthis have been responsible for over 100 attacks on merchant vessels, sinking two ships and killing four sailors.

The United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom had previously conducted joint strikes against Houthi targets, but Saturday’s operation was executed solely by U.S. forces.

Houthi and Iranian Response

Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, vowed that the airstrikes would not deter their operations and warned of retaliation against the U.S. Mohamed Abdulsalam, a spokesperson for the group, dismissed Trump’s claims about threats to international shipping as “false and misleading.”

Iran, which has long provided financial and military support to the Houthis, has not yet issued an official response to the latest strikes.

Broader Implications

The airstrikes come amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran. Just two weeks ago, Trump sent a letter to Iranian leaders proposing a pathway for renewed negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. The president has made clear that he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, further raising the stakes in the region.

As the conflict in Yemen intensifies, the duration and extent of U.S. military action remain uncertain. A U.S. official, speaking to the Associated Press, confirmed that strikes will continue but provided no timeline for their conclusion.

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi movement has in recent weeks been attacking vessels in the Red Sea – a crucial route allowing East-West trade, and especially oil, to use the Suez Canal to avoid the extra time and expense of circumnavigating Africa.

The Liberian-flagged MSC Palatium III was attacked on Friday with a drone in the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to the Houthis.

No injuries were reported, but the vessel suffered some fire damage and was taken out of service, MSC said. Another Liberian-flagged vessel, the Al Jasrah, was hit by a missile, which also started a fire, the U.S. military said.

The Houthis have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on shipping and fired drones and missiles towards Israel – on Saturday hitting the Red Sea resort city of Eilat – in support of the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamist Hamas group fighting Israel in Gaza.

The Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, have pledged to continue their attacks until Israel stops its offensive, but said on Friday they were targeting only ships heading to Israeli ports.

However, both the Palatium III and another MSC ship that was threatened, the Alanya, listed Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as their destination, based on data from the ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic.

Bab al-Mandab is one of the world’s most important routes for global seaborne commodity shipments, particularly crude oil and fuel from the Gulf bound westward for the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal or the nearby SUMED pipeline, as well as commodities heading eastward for Asia, including Russian oil.

Britain said on Saturday that one of its warships had shot down a suspected attack drone targeting merchant shipping in the area.

In response to the increase in attacks, Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) on Friday paused all its container shipments through Bab al-Mandab until further notice, and the German container line Hapag Lloyd said it might do the same, hours after reporting that one of its ships, the Al Jasrah, had been attacked near Yemen.

MSC said it would reroute some services around the Cape of Good Hope on Africa’s southern tip, adding days to the sailing times of vessels booked to transit the Suez Canal.

“Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice,” the company said in a statement.

Maersk on Thursday said its vessel Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.

Earlier on Friday Maersk denied a claim by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia had struck a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.

“The vessel was not hit,” a Maersk spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement following the Houthi claim.

The Houthis had claimed they carried out a military operation against a Maersk container vessel, directly hitting it with a drone. The Houthis, who made the claim in a statement, did not release any evidence.

Maersk said the company was deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

“The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers,” it wrote in the statement.

(This story has been corrected after Maersk clarified that ships are not being rerouted around Africa, in paragraph 1)

The Houthis earlier said they hit a Norwegian commercial tanker with a missile in their latest protest against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, underlining the risks of a conflict that has shaken the Middle East.

In addition to avoid heading toward the Palestinian territories, ships that pass Yemen should keep radios turned on, and quickly respond to Houthi attempts at communication, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said in a message on the X social media platform.

Al-Houthi also warned cargo ships against “falsifying their identity” or raising flags different from the country belonging to cargo ship owner.

The Iran-aligned group attacked the tanker, the STRINDA, because it was delivering crude oil to an Israeli terminal and after its crew ignored all warnings, Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sarea had previously said in a statement.

The Houthis have waded into the Israel-Hamas conflict – which has spread around the region – attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the conflict that has spread around the Middle East since war erupted on Oct. 7, attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself.

The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip – more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in Sanaa.

The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” which have been attacking Israeli and U.S. targets since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, when their Palestinian ally Hamas sparked the war by attacking Israel.

Their role has added to the conflict’s regional risks, threatening sea lanes through which much of the world’s oil shipped, and worrying states on the Red Sea as Houthi rockets and drones fly towards Israel.

Riyadh, the world’s top oil exporter, has watched with alarm as Houthi missiles have been fired over its territory.

With the Houthis stepping up attacks on shipping over the past weeks, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said Riyadh’s message of restraint to Washington aimed to avoid further escalation. Riyadh was so far pleased with the way the United States was handling the situation, the sources added.

“They pressed the Americans about this and why the Gaza conflict should stop,” one of the sources said.

The White House declined to comment.

The Saudi government did not respond to an emailed request for a comment on the discussions.

As Saudi Arabia presses for a ceasefire to halt what it has called a “barbaric war” in Gaza, its diplomacy reflects a wider policy aimed at promoting regional stability after years of confrontation with Iran and its allies.

Focused on expanding and diversifying the Saudi economy, Riyadh this year normalised ties with Tehran and is seeking to exit the war it has been waging with the Houthis in Yemen for nearly nine years.

The sources said Saudi Arabia was seeking to advance the Yemen peace process even as war rages in Gaza, worrying it could be derailed. Yemen has enjoyed more than a year of relative calm amid direct peace talks between Saudi and Houthi officials.

The Houthi attacks during the Hamas-Israel war have elevated their profile in the Iran-aligned camp which also includes Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The Houthis have emerged as a major military force in the Arabian Peninsula, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and armed drones.

Senior sources in the Iran-aligned camp told Reuters the Houthi attacks were part of an effort to put pressure on Washington to get Israel to halt the Gaza offensive, a goal that Iran shares with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.

One of the sources, who is based in Tehran, said Houthi representatives had discussed their attacks with Iranian officials during a meeting in Tehran in November, agreeing to carry out actions in a “controlled” way that would help force an end to the Gaza war. The source was briefed on the matter.

Another of the sources said Tehran did not seek “all-out war in the region” that would risk drawing it in directly.

A Houthi spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Iran has denied being involved in the attacks. Iranian officials did not respond to a request for comment on the Houthi attacks.

Destroyer Downs Drones

The United States and Britain have condemned the attacks on shipping, blaming Iran for its role in supporting the Houthis. Tehran says its allies make their decisions independently.

In one of the latest incidents, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters on Sunday. The Houthis said they had fired at what they said were two Israeli vessels. Israel denied any link to the ships.

A U.S. Navy destroyer, the Carney, shot down three drones as it answered distress calls from the vessels, which the U.S. military said were connected to 14 separate nations.

The Pentagon said on Monday the Carney had taken action as a drone was headed in its direction, but that it could not assess if the warship was the intended target.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh stopped short of using language that could suggest any imminent U.S. retaliation against the Houthis. Asked if the United States might retaliate, Singh said: “If we decide to take action against the Houthis, it will of course be at a time and place of our choosing.”

An Iranian diplomat said Tehran and Washington had exchanged messages through intermediaries about Houthi attacks since the start of the Hamas-Israel war. The diplomat, who was involved in exchanging the messages, said both called for restraint.

Iran on Tuesday denied any role in attacks or actions against U.S. forces.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon was quoted as saying in the report.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maritime security sources on Sunday said that a bulk carrier ship had been hit by at least two drones while sailing in the Red Sea.

British maritime security company Ambrey said that another container ship had reportedly suffered damage from a drone attack about 63 miles northwest of the northern Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

The Carney, an American destroyer, responded to distress calls and provided assistance following missile and drone launches from Houthi-controlled territory, according to U.S. Central Command.

Yemen’s Houthi movement said its navy had attacked two Israeli ships, Unity Explorer and Number 9, with an armed drone and a naval missile. A spokesperson for the group’s military said the two ships were targeted after they rejected warnings, without elaborating.

In a broadcast statement, the spokesperson said the attacks were in response to the demands of the Yemeni people and calls from Islamic nations to stand with the Palestinian people.

The U.S. military said the Carney shot down three drones as it helped the commercial vessels. It was not clear if the warship was a target.

It said the attacks were a threat to international commerce.

“We also have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran,” the statement said.

“The United States will consider all appropriate responses in full coordination with its international allies and partners,” it added.

An Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the two ships had no connection to Israel.

“One ship was significantly damaged and it is in distress and apparently is in danger of sinking and another ship was lightly damaged,” Hagari told reporters in Tel Aviv.

The reported incident follows a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7.

An Israeli-linked cargo ship was seized in November by the Houthis, allies of Iran. The group, which controls most of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, had previously fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel and vowed to target more Israeli vessels.

Multiple Engagements

The Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier Unity Explorer is owned by Unity Explorer Ltd and managed by London-based Dao Shipping Ltd, LSEG data showed. The ship was scheduled to arrive in Singapore on Dec. 15.

Number 9, which was headed to Suez port, is a Panama-flagged container ship owned by Number 9 Shipping Ltd and managed by Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the data showed.

BSM said in a statement to Reuters Number 9 is currently sailing and there were no reports of injuries or pollution after the incident. The vessel was hit by a projectile while transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the company said.

Unity Explorer’s owners and managers could not be reached immediately for comments.

According to U.S. Central Command, the Unity Explorer suffered minor damage while the Number 9 also reported damage.

British maritime security company Ambrey and sources said earlier that a bulk carrier and a container ship had been hit by at least two drones while sailing in the Red Sea.

Ambrey said the container ship had reportedly suffered damage from a drone attack about 63 miles (101 km) northwest of the northern Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said it had received reports of a drone attack in the Red Sea’s Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Last week a U.S. Navy warship responded to a distress call from an Israeli-managed commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden after it had been seized by armed individuals.

UKMTO said the drone activity originated from Yemen, and called on vessels in the vicinity to exercise caution.

Reuters wasn’t immediately able to confirm the reports.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7.

An Israeli-linked cargo ship was seized last month by the Houthi group, an ally of Iran which controls Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The group had previously fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel, and vowed to target more Israeli vessels.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthis on Sunday’s incident.

Last week, a U.S. Navy warship responded to a distress call from an Israeli-managed commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed individuals.