Saudi Aramco Oil Storage Site in Jeddah Hit in Yemeni Strikes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Yemen’s armed forces carried out airstrikes targeting the facilities of Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Aramco.
Yemen’s army spokesman Yahya Saree said on Friday that missiles had targeted Aramco facilities in the port city of Jeddah and drones had conducted strikes on the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries.
Crucial facilities in the capital Riyadh also came under attack from Yemen, the spokesman said.
Drones also hit Aramco facilities in Jizan and Najran, southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, Saudi state media also reported a string of drone and rocket attacks by Yemeni forces on targets in Jeddah.
The Yemeni army said in a statement carried by al-Masirah television network that it had launched the operation ‘Breaking the Siege 3.’
On Tuesday, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf said in the crosshairs were positions financially vital to Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni armed forces, he said, sought to weaken Riyadh’s ability to finance the deadly war, Press TV reported.
Yemen has ramped up its retaliatory strikes on Saudi Arabia. Essam al-Mutawakel, a spokesman for the Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC), said earlier this month that the impoverished country was experiencing the toughest crisis since the start of the Saudi campaign in March 2015.
Yemen’s Minister of Oil and Minerals Ahmad Abdullah Dares has warned that the Saudi seizure of ships transporting petroleum products to Yemen could lead to the suspension of the service sectors and cause “a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies — including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — launched the brutal war on Yemen to eliminate Yemen’s popular Ansarullah movement and reinstall a former regime. The conflict, accompanied by a tight siege, has failed to reach its goals, but has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people.