Oil prices in global markets rose on Friday amid escalating Middle East tensions, particularly attacks by the Houthis on the legitimate government of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The Brent benchmark oil price increased by 1.5% on Friday to near $84. The biggest rise in oil prices on the day was for Murban benchmark oil, which is a benchmark used for pricing Middle East oil.

In the early hours of Friday, 16 Mordad (August 6) local time, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency, citing a Saudi-led coalition, reported that Houthi insurgents’ attacks in Yemen on Saudi Arabia injured 11 people.

The Houthi insurgents, supported by the Islamic Republic, also killed more than 30 personnel of the Yemeni government on Thursday in the governorates of Marib and Hadramout.

Over the past few weeks, the insurgent group has also intensified its attacks on ships in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea, and reports have been published about the mobilization of the Islamic Republic’s proxy forces in Iraq.