Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have attacked a large oil facility in an industrial complex south of the Saudi Arabian city of Jizan as part of a night operation.
The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis said on Monday that they intercepted and destroyed four missiles and six bomb-laden drones launched by the Houthi rebels towards the kingdom.
The missiles and drones were launched from Yemen’s capital Sanaa and aimed at civilian targets, coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said in a statement from the official Saudi press agency.
The Houthi rebels claim they also killed and wounded dozens of high-ranking military officers in Saudi Arabia.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea confirmed in a statement that the rebel group had launched attacks on Saudi military sites.
He said the group’s ballistic missiles and drones had destroyed several Saudi coalition military bases and facilities in Jizan, Najran and Assir near the border with Yemen, in a “large-scale military operation.”
“In addition, the gigantic oil installation in the Jizan industrial zone. The attack was precise,” he said, adding that they also attacked Saudi warplanes and other military targets at the airports of Abha, Jizan and Najran. in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen.
The Saudi Aramco oil company operates a 400,000 barrel per day refinery in the Red Sea city of Jizan, which is located about 60 km (40 miles) from the border with Yemen.
Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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UNICEF: Millions of Yemeni children face hunger |
Cross-border attacks by Houthi rebels have intensified since the end of May when a truce caused by the new coronavirus expired. In late June, the missiles hit the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Sarea said details of a comprehensive military operation within Saudi Arabia carried out by Houthi forces will be announced later.
Saudi Arabia has led an alliance to fight the Houthis in Yemen since March 2015.
The Saudi Arabian-UAE coalition intervened after the Houthis withdrew in late 2014 the government of Saudi Arabia-backed and internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from the capital Sanaa.
The United Nations recently launched virtual talks between warring parties on a permanent ceasefire and confidence-building measures to restart peace negotiations.
But the discussions have been complicated by increased violence since the ceasefire expired.
The war killed more than 100,000 people and caused what the UN describes as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
The conflict has brought Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, to the brink of famine and has devastated the country’s health facilities.
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