Houthis claim new round of attacks on Saudi Arabia
An oil depot in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was attacked by Yemeni rebels on March 25, 2022. © Hassan Ammar/AP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Yemeni Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Saudi Arabia on Friday March 25, including one that caused a massive fire at an oil facility owned by oil giant Aramco in Jeddah.
Advertising
Read more
A huge plume of black smoke was emerging Friday afternoon from the site of oil giant Aramco in Jeddah.
The fire “
has been brought under control and caused no casualties
,” the coalition said in a statement early in the evening, adding that it would “have no
impact on activities in the city of Jeddah
” , with particular reference to the nearby Formula 1 circuit.
The attack targeted “
tanks of petroleum products
” from Aramco, according to the same source.
In their statement, the Houthis said they carried out a total of 16 attacks.
These attacks come on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the intervention of a military coalition led by Riyadh in Yemen to fight these rebels close to Iran.
They follow
several drone and missile attacks
carried out last Sunday and claimed by the Houthis.
One of them had already targeted an Aramco refinery in the industrial city of Yanbu on the Red Sea, a hundred kilometers north of Jeddah.
It had forced the Saudi giant to “
temporarily
” reduce its production and dip into its stocks to compensate.
Production under threat
The kingdom, the world's largest exporter of crude oil, warned the next day of the risk of a drop in its oil production.
“
Saudi Arabia will not take responsibility for any shortage of oil supply in world markets in light of attacks on its oil facilities,
” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.
This comes as oil prices have risen sharply since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and global supplies have been disrupted as Russia is hit by Western sanctions.
The Houthi attacks "
affect the kingdom's production and its ability to fulfill its commitments, clearly threatening the security and stability of supplies on world markets
", insisted the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Western countries have been pressing since the start of the Ukrainian crisis the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, to increase its production.
But the Gulf monarchy has remained deaf to these calls, faithful to its commitments to the OPEC + alliance, which includes Russia, the second largest exporter of crude oil in the world.
► Read also: Houthi rebels refuse peace talks in Riyadh
(with AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Saudi Arabia
Yemen