DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – A fuel tank at an oil facility in Saudi Arabia caught fire after being hit by an attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels, officials said Friday, an attack that occurred on the sixth anniversary of the entry of the kingdom in Yemen. years of civil war.
The attack on Jizan in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen, occurred during what Saudi defense officials described as a barrage of eight bomb-carrying drones launched by the Houthi rebels.
A military spokesman for Houthi later claimed a series of attacks on various Saudi military sites and oil facilities, some of which were recognized by the kingdom and some not.
The kingdom is facing an increasing number of such attacks and the pace has not slowed since it offered a truce to the Houthis on Monday.
The attack in Jizan, about 970 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Riyadh on the Red Sea, hit a distribution facility just after 9 p.m. Thursday, the Saudi Energy Ministry said in a statement from the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
“The attack resulted in a fire in one of the terminal’s tanks,” the statement said without elaborating. “The attack did not cause any casualties.”
Saudi Arabia has not specifically identified the affected area. However, Jizan houses a new refinery and port facilities for the energy giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co. The refinery, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, sent its first shipment abroad last year. Jizan is also transliterated from Arabic by Aramco as Jazan.
Jizan and its new refinery have long been targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in their campaign against the kingdom. However, satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc., taken Friday morning and analyzed by The Associated Press, did not immediately appear to show any damage to that facility.
In a televised address, Houthi spokesman Brig. General Yehia Sarie claimed that the rebels had attacked several Aramco sites in the cities of Jizan, Ras Tanura, Yanbu and Rabigh with 18 drones and eight ballistic missiles. Sarie also alleged that the rebels launched another burst of 12 drones and eight ballistic missiles at King Abdulaziz Air Base in Dammam, as six drones also hit military sites in Asir and Najran provinces.
“The operation has successfully achieved its objectives,” Sarie said. “We confirm that we are ready to launch a tougher and more brutal military operation in the coming period.”
The kingdom did not recognize a wave of attacks on the shell. Claims and counterclaims between the kingdom and the rebels have been common throughout the war.
Benchmark Brent crude rose to over $ 63 a barrel early in trading Friday after the attack. Energy prices have recently risen amid growing demand as coronavirus vaccinations increase and Egypt’s Suez Canal is still closed due to a huge container ship wedged over the vital waterway.
The Saudi-led coalition entered war in Yemen on March 25, 2015, when the Houthis threatened to take the Yemeni port city of Aden and completely overrun the country’s internationally recognized government. The Saudis promised the offensive – the brainchild of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – would soon be over.
Six years later, fighting rages onAccording to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Project, approximately 130,000 people died in the war, including more than 13,000 civilians killed in targeted attacks. Tens of thousands of children have died of hunger and disease.
The war has also turned into a regional conflict, with the Saudis using US-made weapons in internationally criticized air strikes killing civilians, and linking Iran with weapons used by the Houthis to target the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia on Monday offered a new proposal for a ceasefire to the Houthis. It made two concessions to the Houthis in the plan, but did not provide everything the rebels previously wanted. The first concerns the reopening of Sanaa International Airport, a vital link for Yemen to the outside world that hasn’t seen regular commercial flights since 2015. Officials did not immediately indicate which commercial routes they wanted to resume.
The second would see taxes, customs and other fees generated by the port of Hodeida while importing oil into a joint account of Yemen’s central bank. That account would be accessible to the recognized governments of 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 Houthis of stealing those funds in the past.
The Houthis did not outright turn down the offer, although officials said they wanted both the airport and port of Hodeida to be reopened without restrictions. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday praised the arrival of four fuel ships to Hodeida during a talk with Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed as a way to “reduce the fuel shortage facing the country and get much-needed help to the population. from Yemen.. “
Associated Press writer Noha ElHennawy in Cairo contributed to this report.
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