DUBAI (Reuters) – An air raid on an oil refinery in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Friday caused a fire that was controlled, the Energy Ministry said, after Yemen’s Houthi group said it targeted the site with six drones.
The refinery is operated by the state oil giant Saudi Aramco. The attack, which took place at 6:05 am, Saudi Arabia time, did not result in injuries or deaths, and did not interrupt the supply of oil or oil products, the Ministry of Energy reported.
The Houthis said earlier in the day that they had hit an Aramco-owned facility in Riyadh, without specifying the targets they said had been hit.
“Our armed forces carried out an operation this morning … with six drones aimed at the Aramco company in the capital of the Saudi enemy, Riyadh,” said Yahya Sarea, a Houthi military spokesman.
Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, but said it would do so “at the earliest opportunity”.
Houthis aligned with Iran have intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, in recent weeks.
Sarea said operations against Saudi Arabia will continue and increase as long as Saudi “aggression” against Yemen continues.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said this and other attacks targeted the security and stability of the world’s energy supply, not just Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against Houthi forces, which ousted the internationally recognized Yemeni government from power in Sanaa in late 2014.
Riyadh says he intercepts most of the drones and missiles that the Houthis claim to launch at airports, air bases and power infrastructure, but some do damage.
On March 7, the coalition said a drone and missile dam was intercepted en route to targets, including an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, the site of a refinery and the world’s largest offshore oil loading facility. A residential complex in Dhahran used by Saudi Aramco was also targeted.
Sarea warned “foreign companies and citizens” to avoid military sites and essential infrastructure.
In renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war, the United Nations and the United States have urged the Houthis, who are also making an offensive against the city controlled by the government of Marib in Yemen, to turn to negotiations instead of military escalation. .
(Written by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Mark Heinrich)