SANAA, Aug. 18 — Yemen’s Houthi group said Tuesday it had launched a fresh drone attack on a Saudi Aramco oil refinery in the southwestern Saudi region of Jazan.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities or Aramco on the Houthi claim, and no information was immediately available on possible casualties or damage.
A number of drones targeted the refinery and the strike was “precise,” said a military source within the group, cited by the Houthi-run Saba news agency.
The source said the attack was carried out in response to “Saudi violations of the airspace” over the Houthi-held northern provinces of Saada and Hajjah.
Tuesday’s announcement marked the latest Houthi claim of an attack on the Jazan refinery. On Thursday, the group said two drones had targeted the same facility, also citing alleged Saudi air activity over Saada and Hajjah.
The recent escalation has coincided with a series of Houthi missile and drone attacks on government-held areas in Yemen, including targets in the Red Sea port city of Mocha and the oil-rich province of Marib, as well as attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
A UN-brokered truce that took effect in April 2022 expired six months later without a formal extension, but a fragile de facto ceasefire has largely held until the recent escalation. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
