DUBAI, UAE – Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they attacked a Saudi oil rig in the port city of Jeddah on Thursday, the latest in a series of cross-border missile and drone strikes the group has claimed against the kingdom in the middle of the war in Yemen.
The Saudi state media did not immediately recognize any incident in Jeddah. But overnight, the military coalition led by Saudi leaders against the rebels announced that the Houthis fired two explosive-laden drones at Khamis Mushait, a city southwest of hosting King Khalid Air Base and later a ballistic missile at southern Jizan province. . . There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Brig. Gender. Yehia Sarie, a spokesman for the Houthi army, wrote on Twitter that the rebels fired a new Quds-2 cruise missile at the facility. He posted a satellite image online that matches the bulk factory in northern Jeddah in Aramco, where oil products are stored in tanks. Iran-backed rebels claimed to have hit the same facility In November last year, an attack that the Saudi-led coalition later acknowledged ignited a factory fire.
While such attacks rarely cause damage or casualties, strikes at major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has shaken energy markets and the world economy.
The Jeddah plant, which serves as a temporary storage facility for gasoline, diesel and other petrochemicals before distribution, is located just southeast of the city’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, a major airport for Muslim pilgrims. head for Mecca.
Flights arriving at the airport deviated or flew in circles early Thursday morning without explanation, according to tracking data on the FlightRadar24.com website.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene did not see any smoke rising immediately from the facility on Thursday morning.
The US consulate in Jeddah has issued a warning to the Americans invoking the attack on the Aramco facility, among other strikes reported by drones 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 owns part of its publicly traded stock, has not responded to a request for comment. Its shares traded slightly on Thursday on the Riyadh Tadawul Stock Exchange, as the international reference value for crude oil, Brent, rose to more than $ 64 a barrel.
Since 2015, Houthis fighting the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen have targeted international airports, along with military installations and critical oil infrastructure, in Saudi Arabia. In recent months, the rebels have stepped up their attacks, repeatedly hitting drones and missiles on Patriot missile batteries in the kingdom. Earlier this week, a ballistic missile reached the capital, Riyadh, where he was intercepted and exploded in the sky, scattering remnants of shrapnel over the city.
The conflict in Yemen broke out almost six years ago, after the Houthis entered the capital and confiscated much of the north of the country. A Saudi-led military coalition has launched a bombing campaign to deploy houthi and restore the internationally recognized government.
Now, mired in a stalemate, the war has killed more than 12,000 civilians, pushed millions to the brink of starvation and sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Saudi Arabia has faced widespread international criticism for its airstrikes that have killed civilians and hit non-military targets in Yemen.