Adds comment from Houthi spokesman and Aramco CEO
Yemen's Houthi rebel group launched a ballistic missile and drone strike early Sunday that targeted an LPG facility operated by state-controlled Saudi Aramco in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the rebel group said.
The Houthis also targeted the city of Jizan, as well as an electricity transmission station in Dhahran al-Janub, less than 20km north of the Saudi-Yemen border, and a facility operated by the country's largest LPG distributor, state-owned Gasco, in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait.
Jizan is home to a new Aramco-operated 400,000 b/d refinery complex that is currently being commissioned.
Saudi Arabia's air force and air defence systems intercepted and downed a ballistic missile that was targeting Jizan, as well as nine "booby-trapped drones" that were launched towards the other cities, said the coalition's spokesman, Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki.
The strikes resulted in "material damage to civilian vehicles and residential homes," but there was no loss of life, the coalition said.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack soon after, with the group's military spokesman Yahya Saree saying in an announcement at 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT) that it had carried out the strikes using a "batch of ballistic and winged missiles, as well as drones."
The offensive came just ahead of Aramco's 2021 financial results announcement today in which it announced a more-than-doubling of its profits year on year.
Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser did not detail the extent of the damage at any of the targeted facilities, saying only that there had been "no injuries, and no impact" on the company's supply to its customers as a result of the attack.
This latest incident also comes around one week after its 126,000 b/d Riyadh refinery was targeted by drones early on 11 March, resulting in a small fire.
The Houthi group claimed responsibility for that attack in the hours that followed and said it had also targeted other Aramco facilities in Jizan and Abha. Saree today described the events of 11 March as "the first phase" of the operation that took place today.
Saudi Arabia has faced frequent attacks by the Houthis in neighbouring Yemen in recent years. Riyadh has supported Yemen's internationally-recognised government in the country's civil war, but says it prioritises efforts to reach a ceasefire.
The Houthi group last week rejected an invitation from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to attend talks on the conflict scheduled for 29 March — something al-Maliki highlighted in his statement today.
"These barbaric attacks represent a dangerous escalation and express the position of the terrorist Houthi militia towards the invitation submitted by…the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to host consultations between all Yemeni parties and confirms its approach that it rejects all international efforts and initiatives," he said.
A spate of attacks by the Houthi group last month prompted US president Joe Biden to call Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and vow to defend Saudi Arabia against future attacks from the rebels.
