After talks of peace, Yemen rebels claim more Saudi Aramco attacks
(Bloomberg) --Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked several of Saudi Aramco’s facilities with drones and ballistic missiles on Friday, the latest in a spate of strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure.
The Houthis targeted Aramco sites across the kingdom -- in Ras Tanura, home of the world’s biggest oil-export terminal, Yanbu, Jazan and Rabigh -- as well as a military base in Dammam, according to the group’s Al-Masirah TV. They said they used 12 explosive-laden drones and 8 missiles against the oil company and another 6 drones against targets in the city of Najran.
Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency reported earlier that a fire broke out at a fuel-storage tank at a depot in the city of Jazan after being hit by a Houthi projectile. The kingdom’s air defenses intercepted and destroyed six explosive-laden drones launched by the rebels at the universities of Jazan and Najran, according to the report.
Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia rarely claim lives or cause extensive damage but their frequency has increased in recent months, creating unease in the Persian Gulf, a region key to global energy markets.
U.S. Help
The Saudi government has asked the U.S. and other allies for more help to defend the kingdom against the attacks, Bloomberg reported this week.
On Sunday, the Saudi navy began drills in the Gulf to enhance the security of oil fields and secure freedom of navigation in the region’s waters.
Last week, the Houthis said they were responsible for drones and missiles that targeted a 120,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. They also claimed strikes earlier in the month on Ras Tanura and on a fuel depot in Jeddah.
A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting a grinding war against the Houthis since 2015 in an effort to restore Yemen’s United Nations-recognized government. The conflict’s created what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster and pushed the Yemeni population to the brink of famine.
The rebel group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said Thursday he was ready for an “honorable peace” agreement with Saudi Arabia, but that the kingdom must halt its attacks on Yemen and its siege of Houthi-held areas. He was responding to a plan announced by Saudi Arabia this week to end the war.
