Top World News — October 13, Evening
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi movement deepened further on Tuesday as overnight Saudi airstrikes hit Houthi-held areas, airlines extended flight cancellations into next week, and crude shipments were forced onto a far longer route to Asia. Meanwhile, two major Wall Street banks lifted their Bitcoin price targets, the first bullish sell-side upgrades of this cycle.
Overnight Saudi airstrikes hit Yemen as retaliation tempo holds
The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for multiple overnight airstrikes: two on Kamaran island in the Red Sea, one on the Qanawis district about 55 km northwest of Hodeida, and further strikes in Jawf province near the Saudi border. The Houthis also claimed they shot down a Saudi drone over Saada. The strikes continue an intense exchange, after the coalition earlier carried out 119 strikes on Houthi-held areas in a single 24-hour period.
Etihad extends Saudi cancellations to October 19 as aviation freeze deepens
Etihad Airways extended its cancellation of flights to Saudi Arabia until October 19, moving its earlier October 16 date back. The extension comes alongside IndiGo’s shutdown of its entire Saudi network — Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Madinah — until October 17, while Riyadh’s King Khalid airport remains under a suspension notice through at least October 17. With the aviation disruption now entering a second week, freight and insurance costs on regional routes stay under heavy pressure.
Saudi Arabia reroutes crude around Bab el-Mandeb, adding a month to Asia voyages
Saudi Arabia is now shipping crude from Egypt’s Mediterranean ports and routing tankers around the Cape of Good Hope, bypassing the Bab el-Mandeb strait after the Houthis pledged to disrupt Saudi shipments through it. The detour adds roughly a month to tanker voyages from Yanbu to East Asia. Separately, OPEC+ ministers warned that shipping and insurance costs have surged to “unprecedented levels,” exceeding one-third of the value of the commodities being transported.
Citi and TD Cowen lift Bitcoin targets above $109,000
Citi raised its 12-month Bitcoin target to $113,000, up from $82,000, while TD Cowen lifted its year-end 2026 target to around $109,000 from $97,500. Citi cited returning spot-ETF flows, a weaker dollar and Treasury long-bond buybacks, and expects roughly $5 billion in crypto-product inflows over the next year. The revisions mark the first bullish sell-side target upgrades in this cycle.
Market snapshot: Bitcoin held near $83,400, broadly flat on the day, while Ethereum traded around $2,500 ahead of Wednesday’s US inflation report. Brent crude edged lower to about $105.35–105.60 a barrel, with WTI near $92.80–93.00 — the first daily decline in nearly a week, though the war premium above $100 remains in place. Gold traded around $4,185 an ounce. Next up: US CPI on Wednesday and the Federal Reserve’s October meeting later this month.
Watch: today’s video briefings
BBC News — What we know about Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia airports:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeYa984K1F8
ARY News — 12 PM Headlines, 13 October 2026 (Pakistan):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBa4-oUz0CM