DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – A fuel tank at an oil facility in Saudi Arabia caught fire after being hit in an attack by Yemeni hutile rebels, officials said on Friday, an attack that took place on the sixth anniversary of the kingdom’s entry into Yemen civil war of years.
The attack on Jizan, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen, occurred during what Saudi defense officials described as a barrage of eight unmanned planes launched by the Houthi rebels.
A Houthi military spokesman later claimed a series of attacks on several Saudi military sites and oil facilities, some recognized by the kingdom and others not.
The kingdom has faced an increasing number of such attacks and the pace has not slowed since it offered a ceasefire deal to the Houthis on Monday.
The attack in Jizan, some 970 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Riyadh in the Red Sea, hit a distribution facility shortly after 9 pm on Thursday, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Energy said in a statement released by the Agency State Press Office.
“The attack resulted in a fire in one of the terminal’s tanks,” says the statement, without giving further details. “The attack left no victims.”
Saudi Arabia has not specifically identified the affected area. However, Jizan is home to a new refinery and port facility for the energy giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co. The refinery, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, shipped its first shipment abroad last year. Jizan is also transliterated from Arabic as Jazan by Aramco.
Jizan and his new refinery have long been targets of Yemen’s Houthi rebels in their campaign against the kingdom. However, the satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. taken on Friday morning and analyzed by The Associated Press did not immediately appear to show any damage to the facility.
In a televised speech, military spokesman Houthi Brig. Gen. Yehia Sarie said the rebels had targeted several Aramco sites in the cities of Jizan, Ras Tanura, Yanbu and Rabigh with 18 drones and eight ballistic missiles. Sarie also said the rebels launched another salvo of 12 drones and eight ballistic missiles at King Abdulaziz air base in Dammam, while six drones also hit military sites in Asir and Najran provinces.
“The operation has successfully met its objectives,” said Sarie. “We affirm that we are ready to carry out a more severe and cruel military operation in the next period.”
The kingdom did not recognize a wave of large-scale attacks. Complaints and conventions between the kingdom and the rebels have been common during the war.
The benchmark Brent crude oil rose to over $ 63 a barrel at the beginning of Friday’s trading after the attack. Energy prices have recently increased with increasing demand, as vaccinations against coronavirus increase and Egypt’s Suez Canal remains closed due to a huge container ship trapped in a major waterway..
The Saudi-led coalition entered the Yemen war on March 25, 2015, when the Houthis threatened to take Yemen’s port city of Aden and completely invade the country’s internationally recognized government. The Saudis promised that the offensive – the idea of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – would end soon.
Six years later, the struggle continues. The war killed about 130,000 people, including more than 13,000 civilians killed in targeted attacks, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Project. Tens of thousands of children died of hunger and disease.
The war also turned into a regional conflict, with the Saudis using US-made weaponry in internationally criticized air strikes, killing civilians, and Iran being linked to weapons used by the Houthis to reach the kingdom..
On Monday, Saudi Arabia offered the Houthis a new ceasefire proposal. He made two concessions to the Houthis in the plan, although it did not offer everything the rebels had previously wanted. The first involves the reopening of Sanaa International Airport, a vital link from Yemen to the outside world that has not had regular commercial flights since 2015. The authorities did not immediately identify which trade routes they wanted to see resumed.
The second would see taxes, customs and other taxes generated by the port of Hodeida during the import of oil placed in a joint account with the Central Bank of Yemen. That account would be accessible to the Houthis and the recognized Yemeni government to pay civil servants and finance other programs, officials said.
The Saudi government and the Yemeni government he supports have accused the Houthis of stealing these funds in the past.
The Houthis did not entirely reject the offer, although their officials said they wanted the airport and port of Hodeida to be reopened without restrictions. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the arrival of four fuel ships to Hodeida on Thursday in connection with Yemen’s Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed as a way to “mitigate the shortage of fuel that the country is facing and getting the much needed help from the people of Yemen. “
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Associated Press editor Noha ElHennawy of Cairo contributed to this report.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.