The Ansar Allah Houthi movement in Yemen announced that it had targeted, on Friday, Aramco’s facilities in Jeddah and vital facilities in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with a batch of winged missiles and drones.
The movement said that it bombed vital and important targets in the areas of Jizan, Dhahran al-Janoub, Abha and Khamis Mushait with large numbers of ballistic missiles.
Al-Masirah TV, affiliated with the Houthis, quoted the movement as saying that its armed forces carried out the “third operation to break the siege” in the Saudi depth with large numbers of ballistic and winged missiles and drones.
For its part, the Saudi-led Arab coalition confirmed the targeting of the Aramco plant in Jeddah and the Samtah power plant with missiles launched from the Yemeni city of Hodeidah.
The coalition said that the shell that landed in the Samtah power station caused “limited fire,” adding that it reserves the right to “respond in a timely manner.”
He added that the water tanks in Dhahran Al-Janoub were targeted by missiles launched from Sanaa International Airport.
The coalition warned the Houthis not to persist in their grave violations and not to test its patience.
The coalition stated that the oil distribution station, belonging to the Saudi oil giant Aramco, in the city of Jeddah was targeted, which caused a fire in two of its fuel tanks, without causing any injuries.
But the coalition later announced that the fire in Aramco’s facilities was “under control”, without causing any casualties.
An eyewitness stated that a thick cloud of black smoke rose over the coastal city, which will witness this Sunday the Formula One Grand Prix.
A video spread on social media, which has not been confirmed, showed a fire in Aramco’s fuel tanks in the outskirts of Jeddah.
Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said on Twitter that ballistic missiles were launched at Aramco in Jeddah and Riyadh. And that missiles and drones were launched towards the Ras Tanura refinery (east of the country) and Rabigh (west of the country), in addition to Aramco facilities in Jizan and Najran.
picture released, Getty Images
The Ras Tanura refinery is the oldest oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, and the refinery, located on the Gulf coast, near the city of Dammam, supplies the kingdom with more than a quarter of its fuel needs.
According to the Saudi media, the Queen’s air defense confronted and destroyed the ballistic missiles that launched the sound of the coastal city of Jizan, and caused a limited fire at the power plant.
The coalition confirmed that its defensive forces intercepted Houthi missiles and marches, and parts and pieces of them fell in some residential neighborhoods without any casualties.
He added, according to Al-Arabiya channel, that he managed to destroy two booby-trapped marches that were launched towards Najran.
He explained that these attacks did not affect life in Jeddah, accusing the Houthis of trying to target the “nervous center” of the global economy.
The Saudi Energy Ministry – the world’s largest oil exporter – said following the incident that it would not be responsible for any disruption to global oil supplies due to Houthi attacks, which intensified in the past three weeks.
The latest attacks came a day before the seventh anniversary of the Saudi-led Arab coalition’s military intervention in Yemen, and the Ansar Allah Houthi movement – backed by Iran – has long claimed responsibility for the attacks targeting Saudi oil facilities.
The conflict in Yemen is seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Yemen’s civil war erupted in 2014 when the Iranian-backed Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and ousted Yemen’s internationally recognized government, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene the following year in support of the government. The Houthi movement says it is fighting a corrupt regime and external aggression.
The seven-year conflict has left millions of Yemenis on the brink of famine, according to the United Nations, which describes the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe.