Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had struck an oil facility on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, after the Gulf kingdom said it had extinguished a fire at the site, news agency AFP reported.
The group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had “succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone”.
He said the attack on the facility operated by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company was launched in response to incursions by drones from the Gulf kingdom into northwestern Yemen.
A years-long truce in Yemen’s civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government appeared to collapse last month as fighting between regional allies of the United States and Iran flared.
Later, Saree said the Houthis had on Sunday targeted “Saudi enemy” troops and equipment in the area of Yemen’s Red Sea coastal city of Mokha with missiles and drones.
Two military sources with the internationally recognised, Aden-based government confirmed that the Houthis attacked Mokha with missiles and drones.
Houthis target Saudi troops, military sites near Yemen’s Red Sea coast
One of the military sources said the Houthis also targeted pro-government forces and installations outside Mokha, as well as sites on islands near the Bab al-Mandeb, the shipping chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
The same source said some of the targeted locations housed Saudi troops, but no casualties had been reported among military personnel from the Gulf kingdom.
Residents in government-controlled Mokha confirmed to AFP that they heard blasts in the area. One resident said they “heard explosions from drones and air defences over the port and city”.
Another resident said they heard “six consecutive explosions” in the port.
In July, the Houthis announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and struck Saudi tankers in the Red Sea.
Yemen attacks and Iran’s Hormuz blockade deepen regional shipping crisis
The Houthis control vast swathes of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and areas along the border with Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea provinces.
The Yemeni threat to shipping and Saudi oil facilities comes in parallel with Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a central flashpoint between Tehran and Washington amid efforts to end the Middle East war that began with US and Israeli attacks in February.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said civil response teams had brought a fire at the Jazan refinery under control, without giving the cause of the blaze.
The facility was also targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in July.
“Saudi Aramco’s industrial security firefighting teams extinguished a fire that broke out at dawn today, Sunday, at one of the facilities belonging to the Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, without any injuries,” the ministry said.
(With AFP inputs)
Houthis strike Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, target troops near Red Sea
