Sanaa: Yemen’s Houthi militia have claimed responsibility for a fresh attack against Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah and other vital energy facilities in the Jazan, the second of such cross-border missile attacks against Riyadh in less than 24 hours.
“We announce that we launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at the Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah and other vital energy facilities in Jazan,” Xinhua news agency quoted the militia-run al-Masirah TV as saying on Sunday citing a statement by Houthi spokesman Yehya Sarea.
“The strikes were accurate,” he said, vowing of launching more attacks in the coming days.
Earlier in the day, the Houthi militia announced multiple attacks against Aramco oil facilities in several cities in Saudi Arabia, using ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Energy Ministry said on Sunday that its oil facilities have undergone three drone attacks in the past 24 hours.
The first attack took place on Saturday, targeting the petroleum products distribution terminal in Jazan.
The other two drones attacked a natural gas facility and oil refining factory respectively in Yanbu.
The Saudi Ministry said the attacks caused a fire in Jeddah’s oil facilities but there were no casualties.
It stressed that the kingdom strongly condemns these attacks, adding that such “acts of sabotage and terrorism” are “cowardly assaults that violate international laws”.
The Houthi cross-border attacks came nearly three days after the militia announced its readiness for peace talks.
Previous UN bids to bring the militia onto the table of negotiations had failed.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric welcomed on Sunday “the initiative announced by the Gulf Corporation Council to host the parties to the conflict in Yemen for consultations in (the Saudi capital) Riyadh in the coming weeks in support of the UN efforts”.
“We appreciate all initiatives that support UN actions to reach an inclusive negotiated political settlement to the conflict in Yemen.”
The Houthi fresh attacks against the energy facilities in Saudi Arabia were the latest in a series of similar missile and drone attacks against Riyadh and its allies in the Gulf region.
In January, the Houthi missile attacks killed three people in the United Arab Emirates and bombed an oil facility in Abu Dhabi.
The Houthi militia said its attacks were in response to air and sea blockade imposed by the coalition forces on the Yemeni ports under the militia control.
The coalition said it aims to prevent arms smuggling to the militia.
The escalation came after the Houthi militia lost several strategic districts in the oil-rich provinces of Shabwa and Marib in central Yemen.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of the northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the following year to support the Yemeni government.
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