DUBAI, UAE – A fuel tanker at a Saudi oil plant caught fire after being hit in an attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels, officials said on Friday. the sixth anniversary of the kingdom’s entry into Yemen years of civil war.
The Jizan attack in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen, took place during what Saudi defense officials described as a barrage of eight bomb-carrying drones fired by Houthi rebels.
A Houthi army 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 an increasing number of such attacks and the pace has not slowed since it offered a ceasefire agreement to houthis on Monday.
The attack in Jizan, about 970 kilometers southwest of Riyadh on the Red Sea, hit a distribution facility just after 9pm on Thursday, the Saudi Energy Ministry said in a statement by the news agency in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia.
“The attack resulted in a fire in one of the tanks of the terminal”, it is mentioned in the communiqué, without elaborating. “The attack left no casualties.”
Saudi Arabia has not specifically identified the affected area. However, Jizan is hosting a new refinery and port facilities for energy giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co. The refinery, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels a day, sent its first shipment abroad last year. Jizan is also transliterated from Arabic as Jazan by Aramco.
Jizan and his new refinery were long targeted by Yemeni Houthi rebels in their campaign against the kingdom. However, satellite images from Planet Labs Inc., taken Friday morning and analyzed by The Associated Press, did not appear immediately to show damage to that facility.
In a televised speech, Houthi Army spokesman Brig. Gender. Yehia Sarie claimed that the rebels targeted several Aramco sites in the cities of Jizan, Ras Tanura, Yanbu and Rabigh with 18 drones and eight ballistic missiles. Sarie also said the rebels fired another 12-drone rescue and eight ballistic missiles at King Abdulaziz’s air base in Dammam, as six drones also hit military sites in Asir and Najran provinces.
“The operation has successfully met its objectives,” Sarie said. “We say we are ready to conduct a more severe and cruel military operation in the coming period.”
The kingdom did not recognize a wave of attacks on a scale. Claims and counterclaims between the kingdom and the rebels were common throughout the war.
Brent crude rose to more than $ 63 a barrel at the start of trading on Friday after the attack. Energy prices have risen recently following growing demand as coronavirus vaccinations increase and the Suez Canal in Egypt remains closed due to a massive container ship falling into the vital waterway..
The Saudi-led coalition entered the Yemeni war on March 25, 2015, as the Houthis threatened to take the port city of Aden from Yemen and completely overtake the country’s internationally recognized government. The Saudis have promised that the offensive – the idea of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – will be completed soon.
Six years later, the fighting continues. The war killed about 130,000 people, including more than 13,000 civilians killed in targeted attacks, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Project. Tens of thousands of children have died of starvation and disease.
The war also turned into a regional conflict, with the Saudis using US-made weapons in internationally criticized airstrikes, killing civilians, and Iran being tied to weapons used by Houthi to target the kingdom..
On Monday, Saudi Arabia offered a new proposal to cease the Houthis fire. He made two Houthis concessions in the plan, without giving everything the rebels wanted. The first involves the reopening of Sanaa International Airport, a vital link for Yemen to the outside world, which has not seen regular commercial flights since 2015. Officials did not immediately identify which trade routes they wanted to resume.
Second, taxes, customs duties and other taxes generated by the port of Hodeida while importing oil would be introduced in a joint account of the Central Bank of Yemen. This account would be accessible to the government recognized by Houthis and Yemen to pay civil servants and fund other programs, officials said.
The Saudi government and the Yemeni government it supports have accused the Houthi of stealing these funds in the past.
Houthis did not directly reject the offer, although its officials said they wanted the airport and port of Hodeida to be reopened without restrictions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday praised the arrival of four fuel ships in Hodeida, calling on Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed as a way to “alleviate the country’s lack of fuel and get the much needed help from the people of Yemen. ”
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Associated Press writer Noha ElHennawy of Cairo contributed to this report.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.