Yemen's Houthis say they attacked Saudi Aramco facilities; no Saudi

[April 12, 2021]  DUBAI (Reuters) -Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Monday it had fired 17 drones and two ballistic missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia, including Saudi Aramco facilities in Jubail and Jeddah.

There was no immediate Saudi confirmation. Saudi Aramco, the state oil firm, said when contacted by Reuters that it would respond at the earliest opportunity.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Twitter the group's barrage included 10 Samad-3 drones fired at refineries in the Red Sea city of Jeddah and Jubail in the Eastern Province.

Aramco's refinery in Jeddah was decommissioned in 2017 but it has a petroleum products distribution plant there that the Houthis have previously targeted.

Sarea said on Monday the movement also targeted military sites in the southern Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait and Jazan.

The Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen's war in 2015 against the Houthis said late on Sunday it had intercepted and destroyed six armed Houthi drones.

Logo of Saudi Aramco is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama, Bahrain, March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

The coalition entered the war after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sanaa.

The movement, which holds most of north Yemen, has kept up cross border attacks on Saudi Arabia and a ground offensive in Yemen's Marib region at a time the United States and the United Nations are pushing for a ceasefire agreement.

Riyadh and the Yemeni government have welcomed a truce but the Houthis want the full lifting of a sea and air blockade.

The conflict, seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed the Arabian Peninsula nation to the brink of famine.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli and Ghaida Ghantous; writing by Raya Jalabi; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Toby Chopra)

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