Oil infrastructure at Yanbu Port, Yemen. In a significant escalation, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement has targeted key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, raising tensions in the region as the conflict intensifies, writes Bayethe Msimang.
In a new escalation, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen said on Monday that it had targeted several sensitive facilities linked to the supply and transportation of crude oil connecting eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, a key hub for the Kingdom’s oil exports.
Saudi Aramco has not yet responded to a request for comment, according to Reuters.
Yahya Saree, the group's military spokesperson, said the operation was carried out in response to what he described as repeated incursions by Saudi drones into Yemeni airspace. He stated that "a number of sensitive targets and facilities involved in transporting crude oil from eastern Saudi Arabia to Yanbu were successfully struck using multiple drones," describing the attack as retaliation for what he called violations of Yemeni airspace by "Saudi enemy" drones.
According to media reports, the attack on oil facilities at Yanbu port came four years after a similar Houthi strike on an Aramco-affiliated refinery jointly operated with China's Sinopec Petrochemical Company, an attack that temporarily reduced refinery output.
