These attacks come on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the intervention of the military coalition led by Riyadh in Yemen to support the Yemeni government against the Houthis, close to Iran. They caused no casualties according to Riyadh.
The rebels carried out 16 attacks in the south and in Jeddah (west) targeting various infrastructures, including a power station, a water station and oil installations, the coalition said in a statement. The most impressive took place in Jeddah against tanks of the oil giant Aramco, causing a gigantic fire.
Saudi Arabia: Reports of a probable missile strike and/or drone attack fired by the Houti, from Yemen, on Aramco infrastructure in Jeddah.
Several announcements of interceptions had been made before. pic.twitter.com/C6MxlXWghi– Rebecca Rambar (@RebeccaRambar) March 25, 2022
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“The fire has been brought under control,” said coalition spokesman Turki al Maliki, assuring that the incident would not have an impact “on activities in Jeddah”. It arose not him from the Formula 1 circuit where the Grand Prix free practice is currently being held, scheduled for Sunday. The Formula 1 championship promoter has already indicated that the race will continue “as planned”.
The Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) even asked his team by radio: “I smell a burning smell, is that my car? “.
Sixteen attacks
The attacks, carried out with missiles and drones, were launched from the cities of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen in the hands of the insurgents, and Hodeida, also in the rebel zone. The United States called them “unacceptable”. “We will continue to work with our Saudi partners to bolster their defense systems while working toward a lasting solution to the conflict” in Yemen, State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.
By targeting oil installations, the Houthis are trying to “touch the nerve of the global economy”, Maliki said. Oil prices have risen sharply since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine disrupted global supplies as Russia was hit by Western sanctions.
The Saudi kingdom, the world’s largest crude exporter, had already warned on Monday of the risk of a drop in its oil production in the aftermath of several attacks claimed by the Houthis. An official from the Saudi Ministry of Energy, quoted by the official SPA agency, again warned on Friday of the threat posed by these attacks “to the security of the world’s oil supply”.
“Saudi Arabia will not take responsibility for any shortage of oil supply in world markets,” the Saudi official added, accusing Iran of “continuing to supply drones and missiles” to the Houthis.
On Sunday, one of the rebel attacks forced Aramco to “temporarily” cut production and dip into inventory to compensate.
The Foreign Ministry again accused Iran of “continuing to supply drones and missiles” to the Houthis, calling on the international community to “take responsibility”.
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 world’s second largest exporter of crude. Seven years after the first strikes on March 26, 2015 in Yemen, the military intervention led by Riyadh has shown its limits on the ground and accentuated one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
It made it possible to stop the advance of the Houthis in the south and the east, but not to dislodge them from the north of the country, in particular from the capital Sanaa. According to the UN, the conflict has caused the death of nearly 380,000 people, the majority of them linked to hunger, disease and lack of drinking water.
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