Published 19:26 IST, September 14th 2019
Houthi rebels claim drone attack on Saudi Aramco oil refineries
Yemen's Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for drone attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil refineries in Abqaiq and Khurais, Saudi Arabia on September 14.
Yemen's Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for drone attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil refineries in Saudi Arabia on September 14. A regional news agency reported that the Houthi rebels deployed 10 drones against the sites in Abqaiq and Khurais. The attacks took place early on Saturday and resulted in a massive fire which was later extinguished by the Saudi authorities. It is the world's largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in Buqyaq and the Khurais oil field, though Yemen's Houthi rebels previously launched drone assaults deep inside of the kingdom.
The source of the attack was not identified by the authorities and said the investigations were going on. They did not mention if there were any casualties or whether operations at the two facilities had been affected. Some online videos displayed smoke rising up from the factory and gunfires could be heard in the background.
Houthi rebels warn Saudis of expanding targets in future
Later On Saturday, the Houthis claim the attacks and promised to widen the attacks on Saudi Arabia which leads a military coalition battling them in neighboring nation Yemen. The Houthi rebels released a statement and said they have their right and warned the Saudis that their targets will expand in the near future. The rebels have carried out a series of drone attacks targeting the major Saudi facilities and Saudi airbases. Earlier in August, a Houthi-claimed attack sparked a fire at Aramco's Shaybah natural gas liquefaction facility but no casualties were reported by the company. Saudi Aramco describes its Abqaiq oil processing facility in Buqyaq as "the largest crude oil stabilization plant in the world." The facility processes sour crude oil into sweet crude, then later transports onto transshipment points on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Estimates suggest it can process up to 7 million barrels of crude oil a day. The plant has been targeted in the past by militants. Al-Qaida-claimed suicide bombers tried but failed to attack the oil complex in February 2006.
Iran backed Houthi VS Saudi Arabia -led coalition
A Saudi-led coalition has been struggling the rebels since March 2015. The Houthi rebels are being backed by Iranian forces hold Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and another territory in the Arab world's poorest country. The war has become the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The violence has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine and killed more than 90,000 people since 2015, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, which tracks the conflict.
UN investigators said the Houthis' new UAV-X drone, found in recent months during the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen, likely has a range of up to 1,500 kilometers (930 miles). That puts the far reaches of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in range. The Houthi's Al-Masirah satellite news channel did not immediately acknowledge the attack on Saturday.
Updated 20:08 IST, September 14th 2019