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Sunday, March 7, 2021
The state company Aramco in the crosshairs
Houthi rebels attack Saudi oil deposits
A civil war has raged in Yemen since 2014 between the Riyadh-backed government and the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels. The latter admit to having attacked several targets in Saudi Arabia, including an oil deposit of the state Aramco.
According to their own statements, the Houthi rebels in Yemen have again attacked a plant owned by the Aramco oil company in neighboring Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Energy confirmed that an oil warehouse in Ras Tanura port was attacked by drones from the sea on Sunday morning. At night, rocket fragments fell near a residential area for Aramco employees in Dhahran, on the Persian Gulf. There were no injuries or damages.
The Saudi Defense Ministry called the attacks “cowardly and terrorist aggression” against the world’s energy supplies. The Houthis’ military spokesman, Jahja Sari, announced that they had come across Aramco facilities and military targets in the Persian Gulf coastal city of Dammam. The strikes were part of a larger attack on the kingdom with 14 drones and eight ballistic missiles.
Dammam and the neighboring city of Dhahran are important places for the oil industry, the state company Aramco is based there. The US consulate in Dhahran has warned US citizens of “possible rocket attacks and explosions” in the area and urged them to be on the lookout for possible further attacks. The Houthis had already announced in November that they had hit an Aramco facility in Jeddah with a cruise missile. According to Aramco, the attack caused an explosion and fire in a tank at a distribution station; therefore, the oil supply was not affected. In 2019 there were two attacks on the Aramco facilities. The Houthis claimed the attacks for themselves. The United States, on the other hand, blamed Iran, which denied responsibility.
The Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, have also launched a new offensive in Yemen in the strategically important city of Marib. A Saudi-led military alliance is fighting them alongside the Yemeni government. At the same time, the rebels have stepped up their attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. The alliance said Sunday it had intercepted 10 rogue drones in five hours.
