DUBAI, UAE (AP) – A fuel tank at an oil facility in Saudi Arabia caught fire after being attacked by Yemeni Houthi rebels, officials said Friday, an attack that occurred on the sixth anniversary of the kingdom’s entry into Yemen. years of civil war.
The assault on Jizan, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen, occurred during what Saudi defense officials described as a reservoir of eight drones carrying bombs dropped by Houthi rebels. .
A Houthi military spokesman later claimed a series of attacks on several Saudi military sites and oil installations, some recognized by the kingdom and others not.
The kingdom has faced a growing number of such attacks and the pace has not slowed since it offered a ceasefire agreement to the Houthis on Monday.
The attack on Jizan, about 970 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Riyadh in the Red Sea, attacked a distribution facility just after 9 p.m., the Saudi Energy Ministry reported in a statement from the Saudi state news agency.
“The attack caused a fire in one of the tanks of the terminal,” the statement said, without detailing it. “The attack left no casualties.”
Saudi Arabia did not specifically identify the affected area. However, Jizan is home to a new refinery and port facilities for energy giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co. The refinery, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels a day, shipped its first shipment abroad last year. Jizan is also transliterated from Arabic as Jazan by Aramco.
Jizan and his new refinery have long been the object of Yemen’s Houthi rebels in their campaign against the kingdom. However, satellite imagery from Planet Labs Inc. taken on Friday morning and analyzed by The Associated Press did not appear to show any immediate damage to this facility.
In a televised speech, Houthi military spokesman Brig. General Yehia Sarie claimed that the rebels directed several Aramco sites in the cities of Jizan, Ras Tanura, Yanbu and Rabigh with 18 drones and eight ballistic missiles. Sarie also claimed that the rebels fired another 12-drone rescue and eight ballistic missiles at King Abdulaziz’s air base at Dammam, as six drones also attacked military sites in Asir and Najran provinces.
“The operation has successfully met its objectives,” Sarie said. “We affirm that we are prepared to carry out a more severe and cruel military operation in the coming period.”
The kingdom did not recognize a wave of attacks on scale. Claims and counterclaims between the kingdom and the rebels have been common throughout the war.
Brent benchmark crude rose to more than $ 63 a barrel on Friday early in trading after the attack. Energy prices have risen recently due to growing demand as coronavirus vaccinations increase and the Suez Canal remains closed due to a huge container ship crossed by the river..
The Saudi-led coalition entered the Yemeni war on March 25, 2015, as Houthis threatened to take the port city of Aden and completely overtake the internationally recognized government. The Saudis promised that the offensive, the result of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would end in a short time.
Six years later, the struggle continues. The war has killed some 130,000 people, including more than 13,000 civilians killed in specific attacks, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Events Project. Tens of thousands of children have died of starvation and disease.
The war has also become a regional conflict, with Saudis using U.S.-made weapons in internationally criticized airstrikes that kill civilians, and Iran is linked to the weapons Houthis use to attack the kingdom..
On Monday, Saudi Arabia offered the houthis a new ceasefire proposal. He made two concessions to the Houthis in the plan without offering everything the rebels wanted earlier. The first is the reopening of Sanaa International Airport, a vital link for Yemen with the outside world that has not seen regular commercial flights since 2015. Officials did not immediately identify which trade routes they wanted to see resumed.
The second would see the taxes, customs and other fees generated by the port of Hodeida while importing oil into a joint account of the Central Bank of Yemen. This account would be accessible to the recognized government of the Houthis and Yemen to pay public officials and fund other programs, officials said.
The Saudi government and the Yemeni government it supports have accused the Houthis of stealing these funds in the past.
The Houthis did not directly reject the offer, although officials said they wanted the airport and port of Hodeida to reopen without restrictions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday praised the arrival of four fuel ships in Hodeida in a call with Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed as a way to “mitigate the fuel shortage facing country and get the much needed help for the people of Yemen. “
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Associated Press writer Noha ElHennawy in Cairo contributed to this report.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.