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[Hot News Recap: Mecca Issues First Security Alert, Houthi Attacks Shake the Middle East] 1. Saudi Arabia issued a security alert on Tuesday for several areas, including the holy city of Mecca and its second-largest city, Jeddah, before quickly lifting it. Saudi authorities did not immediately specify whether any projectiles landed, nor did any group claim responsibility for the attacks. This was the most widespread alert since the escalation of the conflict last week, and the first time an alert had been issued in Mecca since the start of the war. Mecca contains religious sites considered holy by all Muslims. 2. The Houthi rebels in Yemen, allied with Iran, announced several large-scale attacks on Saudi Arabia over the past week, including Monday's strike on an airbase, claiming it was in retaliation for airstrikes in Yemen. Saudi Arabia blamed another attack on Friday on an Iraqi-based pro-Iranian group that caused the Saudi East-West oil pipeline across the Arabian Desert to stop operating. US Energy Secretary Wright said on Tuesday that oil shipments through the pipeline were expected to resume within days. The Saudi-led military coalition said Monday's Houthi attack injured 13 civilians. 3. These Iranian-backed militants advanced rapidly along Yemen's west coast last week, eventually seizing an island at the entrance to the Red Sea. Officials from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, based in southern Yemen and opposing the Houthis, said that Saudi and Yemeni air forces intensified airstrikes against Houthi targets to halt their advance, including attacks near the Red Sea port of Mocha. However, Yemeni officials acknowledged that the Houthis now effectively control almost the entire western coast of Yemen's Red Sea region. One Yemeni official stated that the Houthis are under immense pressure while simultaneously increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia, further escalating missile and drone attacks. 4. The Middle East conflict has opened a new front, increasing Iran's leverage in its fight against the United States and further jeopardizing global oil supplies. Saudi Arabia's 1,200-kilometer-long east-west oil pipeline connects the country's Gulf oil fields to the Red Sea. The pipeline, a major route for Saudi oil exports, has been disrupted by the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz over the past six months. After being attacked and shut down last Friday, traders said that a prolonged shutdown could cut off up to 4% of global oil supplies. Riyadh has not yet specified when the pipeline will resume operation, but Wright believes the recovery time "will be measured in days." Wright stated that, with US military assistance, Saudi Arabia is taking steps to transport more oil via routes bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. 5. The US, which bombed Houthi rebels for two consecutive months last year, now faces a dilemma: either stand idly by and risk a new threat to the global economy, or provide military support to Saudi Arabia, potentially dragging itself into another costly conflict.