Iran’s Yemen based Houthi militants announced that they carried out coordinated strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco’s facilities in Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.
In a statement, the Islamist group said they had “carried out two qualitative military operations.”
“The first targeted sensitive Aramco-affiliated facilities in Jazan with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones. And the second operation targeted sensitive Aramco-affiliated facilities in Yanbu with a number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones,” the statement said.
According to Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, the attacks involved dozens of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, and said the munitions had successfully struck their intended targets.
Satellite imagery obtained from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), along with verified local video footage showed a large fire and heavy plumes of smoke rising from the Aramco refinery complex in Jizan post the reported attack.
The strikes were described by the Houthis as retaliation for Saudi air strikes targeting Houthi-controlled state telecommunications infrastructure in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah and military positions on Kamaran Island.
The group also reaffirmed that its maritime blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern entrance to the Red Sea, remained in force.
Earlier this week, the Houthis attacked two Saudi-flagged commercial oil tankers in the Red Sea but have not reported any further strikes on commercial shipping since then, easing immediate concerns over disruption to international maritime traffic.
“We will not hesitate to expand our operations and escalate our actions based on developments in the coming hours and days, within the equation of a blockade for a blockade and an escalation for an escalation,” Saree said.
The facility was struck as part of a multi-wave attack launched by the Islamist group in retaliation for Saudi forces’ earlier attacks against Houthi-controlled state telecommunications infrastructure in Hodeidah and military positions on Kamaran Island.
