Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed a drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery after Saudi authorities reported extinguishing a fire at the Red Sea facility.
SANAA: 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.
The group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had “succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone”.
He added the attack on the facility operated by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil firm was launched in response to incursions by drones from the Gulf monarchy into northwest 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 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 the Houthis attacked Mokha with missiles and drones.
One of the two military sources said the Houthis also targeted pro-government forces and installations outside Mokha and sites on islands near the Bab al-Mandeb, the shipping chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
The same military source said some locations targeted by the Iran-backed group housed Saudi troops but no casualties had been reported among military personnel from the Gulf kingdom.
Residents in government-controlled Mokha confirmed to AFP they heard blasts in the area, with one saying 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, hitting Saudi tankers in the Red Sea.
The Houthis control vast swathes of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and areas on 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 the central flashpoint between Tehran and Washington amid efforts to end the Middle East war begun by the US and Israel in February.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said civil response teams had brought under control a fire at Jazan refinery, 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.
