Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced on Sunday that they successfully carried out a drone strike against an oil facility located on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast. The group's military spokesman, Yahya Saree, stated that the Houthis targeted the Aramco refinery in Jizan, describing the strike as precise. Saree further claimed the military operation was conducted in direct response to Saudi drone incursions into the northwest region of Yemen.
Earlier in the day, the Saudi Arabian energy ministry reported that civil response teams had brought a fire under control at the Jizan refinery. The ministry confirmed that the blaze broke out at dawn on Sunday at one of the Saudi Aramco facilities. Officials stated that the fire was successfully extinguished by industrial security firefighting teams and noted that there were no reported injuries. The ministry did not provide a specific cause for the incident, which occurred at a site that was also targeted by Houthi rebels this past July.
This latest escalation coincides with the apparent collapse of a 2022 truce in Yemen’s long-standing civil war, a conflict in which Saudi Arabia has participated for more than a decade in support of the internationally recognized government. Recently, the Houthi movement announced a maritime blockade of its northern neighbor and has engaged in attacks on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. The group continues to maintain control over significant portions of Yemen, including the capital city, Sanaa, and territory along the border of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea provinces.
Regional tensions are further heightened by Iran's ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a primary flashpoint between Tehran and Washington. These developments occur amidst broader international efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict initiated by the United States and Israel in February.
