DUBAI, UAE – Yemeni Huthi rebels say they attacked a Saudi oil facility in the port city of Jeddah on Thursday, the latest in a series of cross-border missile and drone attacks by the group. has claimed against the kingdom in the midst of the ground war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabian state media did not immediately recognize any incidents in Jeddah. But overnight, the Saudi-led military coalition against the rebels announced that the Houthis had fired two explosive-laden drones at Khamis Mushait, a city in the southwest where the air base was located. King Khalid and later a ballistic missile to the southern province of Jizan. . No casualties were reported immediately.
Brig. General Yehia Sarie, a military spokesman for Houthi, tweeted about the rebels launching a new Quds-2 cruise missile at the facility. He posted an online satellite image that coincided with Aramco’s North Jeddah bulk plant, where petroleum products are stored in tanks. Iran-backed rebels claimed to have touched the same facility last November, an attack that the Saudi-led coalition later acknowledged had ignited a fire at the plant.
While these attacks rarely cause damage or casualties, strikes at Saudi Arabia’s major oil facilities, the world’s largest oil exporter, has shaken the energy markets and the world economy.
The Jeddah plant, which serves as a temporary storage for gasoline, diesel and other petrochemicals before distribution, is located just southeast of King Abdulaziz International Airport, a major airfield run by Muslim pilgrims. heading for Mecca.
Flights arriving at the airport were diverted or flown in circles early Thursday morning without explanation, according to tracking data from the FlightRadar24.com website.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw no smoke leaving the facility immediately on Thursday morning.
The US consulate in Jeddah sent a warning to the Americans citing the attack on Aramco’s facilities, among other drone attacks in the south of the kingdom. He said he was unaware of any casualties and urged Americans to “review the immediate precautions to be taken in the event of an attack.”
Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s oil giant that now has a portion of its value publicly traded on the stock exchange, did not respond to any requests for comment. Its shares traded slightly on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange as international crude oil benchmark Brent rose to more than $ 64 a barrel.
Since 2015, Houthis fighting the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen have been heading to international airports, along with military installations and critical oil infrastructure, in Saudi Arabia. In recent months, the rebels have intensified their attacks, repeatedly striking drones and missiles at the kingdom’s Patriot missile batteries. Earlier this week, a ballistic missile hit the capital, Riyadh, where it was intercepted and exploited in the sky, scattering remnants of shrapnel through the city.
The conflict in Yemen erupted almost six years ago, after Houthis ravaged the capital and seized much of the north of the country. A Saudi-led military coalition launched a bombing campaign to oust the Houthis and restore the internationally recognized government.
Now sunk to a standstill, the war has killed more than 12,000 civilians, pushed millions to the brink of starvation and generated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Saudi Arabia has faced widespread international criticism for its airstrikes that have killed civilians and achieved non-military targets in Yemen.