Saudi Arabia – (warsoor) – Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have launched attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting oil facilities owned by state-run Saudi Aramco company and military sites.
The Iran-aligned group on Friday said they launched attacks on Thursday against King Abdulaziz military base in Dammam and military sites in Najran and Asir. The group also said they targeted Aramco facilities in Ras Tanura, Rabigh, Yanbu and Jizan.
Saudi Arabia has faced an increasing number of such assaults and the tempo has not slowed since it offered a ceasefire deal to the Houthis on Monday.
A Saudi-led military coalition has been carrying out bombings in Yemen since March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government that was toppled by the Houthis.
The attack in Jizan, some 970km (600 miles) southwest of the capital, Riyadh, on the Red Sea, struck a distribution facility just after 9pm (18:00 GMT) on Thursday, the Saudi Energy Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The Jizan attack was also confirmed by the country’s defence ministry.
“The attack resulted in a fire in one of the terminal’s tanks,” the statement said, without elaborating. “The attack left no casualties.”
Saudi Arabia did not specifically identify the area struck. However, Jizan is home to a new refinery and port facilities for the energy giant, Aramco. The refinery, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels a day, sent its first shipment abroad last year.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it plans to take deterrent actions to protect oil export facilities following the series of attacks, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Saudi-led coalition entered Yemen’s war on March 25, 2015, promising that the offensive – the brainchild of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – would be over in short order.
Six years later, the fighting continues. The war has killed some 130,000 people, including at least 13,000 civilians slain in targeted attacks, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Tens of thousands of children have died of starvation and disease.
The war has also turned into a regional conflict, with the Saudis using United States-made weaponry in internationally criticised air raids killing civilians, and Iran being linked to weapons used by the Houthis to target the kingdom.
Last month, the Biden administration ended US support of Saudi’s war in Yemen and also suspended the sale of weapons.
Source: Aljazeera