Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted Saudi oil giant Aramco and other energy facilities in the Kingdom’s southern region early Tuesday, Saudi authorities said. Yemen has now claimed responsibility for the strikes.
The attacks triggered fires at several sites and temporarily disrupted operations. Seventy-three people were injured.
A Saudi Energy Ministry official source said specialised field teams were deployed to contain the fires, secure the facilities and assess the damage, Al Arabiya reported.
Deep Dive
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The ministry said, “The needed measures will be taken to ensure the safety of the facilities and workers and the continuation of work according to the approved operational plans.”
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The Houthis targeted several sites in Saudi Arabia, including Abha International Airport, King Khalid air base and Aramco facilities in Abha and Jazan, Bloomberg reported, citing Houthi media outlet Ansarollah.
{{/usCountry}}The Houthis targeted several sites in Saudi Arabia, including Abha International Airport, King Khalid air base and Aramco facilities in Abha and Jazan, Bloomberg reported, citing Houthi media outlet Ansarollah.
{{/usCountry}}"The Terrorist Houthi Militia's senseless attacks, the latest of which targeted civilian and economic sites", resulted in "injuries to (73) civilians," the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition said in a statement. "The Command will also take all necessary measures and actions to respond to the sources of the threat and neutralise its danger."
Oil facilities in Jazan were also hit earlier on Monday. The city, home to a refinery with a capacity of about 4 lakh barrels per day, has remained shut since an earlier attack in July.
Last month, the Houthis claimed responsibility for two attacks in one week on the Jazan refining complex. Saudi authorities said one strike hit the refinery and caused a fire. The group also claimed an attack in July and has targeted Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea, including a supertanker last month.
Houthis threaten bigger operation
The latest Saudi strikes came after the Houthis accused Riyadh on Monday of conducting airstrikes in Yemen. This included a deadly bombardment of a prison in Al-Hazm in the northern Al-Jawf province.
The attack on the jail killed 11 people and left 20 inmates missing beneath the rubble, Yemeni television channel Almasirah quoted Hassan Saboula, director-general of civil defence in Jawf province, as saying.
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Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Riyadh had taken "escalatory steps" by carrying out airstrikes on Yemen and warned that Houthi attacks would not go unanswered.
The Houthi military spokesperson said the group would announce in the coming hours a broad operation deep into Saudi territory, Reuters reported.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Malki described the latest escalation as "dangerous".
"The coalition will take all necessary operational measures to deter this terrorist militia and resolutely confront its hostile approach," he said.
Fighting near Bab al-Mandab
Over 300 people have been killed and hundreds of families displaced in days of fighting between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and forces aligned with the internationally recognised government, as the Houthis push to expand their control towards the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait, AFP reported.
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The waterway, which links the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea, is a major global shipping route. Its importance to Saudi Arabia has grown as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted amid the US-Iran conflict.
The conflict between Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthis reignited in July after several years of relative calm. The Houthis control most of Yemen’s major population centres, including the capital, Sanaa.
The Houthis are a part of the “Axis of Resistance”, a network of anti-US and anti-Israel groups that also includes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. The escalation comes as tensions between the United States and Iran continue to reverberate across the region.