SANAA, Mar 21 (NNN-SABA) – Yemen’s Houthi militia, yesterday, claimed responsibility for a fresh attack against a Saudi Aramco oil facilities, in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah, and other vital energy facilities in the Saudi south-western city of Jazan, the second of such cross-border missile attacks against Saudi Arabia 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,” Houthi-run al-Masirah TV quoted a statement by the Houthi military spokesman, Yehya Sarea, as saying.
“The strikes were accurate,” he said, vowing to launch more attacks in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Saudi energy ministry said yesterday that, its oil facilities have undergone three drone attacks in the past 24 hours.
The first attack happened on Saturday, targetting the petroleum products distribution terminal, in Jizan. The other two drones attacked a natural gas facility and oil refining factory, respectively, in Yanbu, western Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi ministry said, the attacks caused a fire in Jeddah’s oil facilities, but there were no casualties.
The ministry 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 “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.”– NNN-SABA
