Yemen rebels’ missile strikes Saudi oil facility in Jiddah
A projectile struck a gas tank on the Jiddah distribution station and ignited a hearth round 3:50 a.m., an unnamed Energy Ministry official mentioned in an announcement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Col. Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition combating the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, blamed the rebels for what he referred to as “a cowardly attack which not only targets the kingdom, but also targets the nerve center of the world’s energy supply and the security of the global economy.”
Brig. Gen. Yehia Sarie, a Houthi navy spokesman, tweeted early Monday that the rebels fired a brand new Quds-2 cruise missile on the facility. He posted a satellite tv for pc picture on-line that matched Aramco’s North Jiddah Bulk Plant, the place oil merchandise are saved in tanks.
That facility is simply southeast of Jiddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, a serious airfield that handles incoming Muslim pilgrims en path to close by Mecca.
Online movies appeared to indicate a tank farm much like the majority plant on hearth, with wailing sirens heard and police automobiles alongside a freeway by the facility. Details of the movies posted predawn Monday matched the final format of the majority plant.
A satellite tv for pc photograph from Planet Labs Inc. later printed by TankerTrackers.com appeared to indicate harm to one of many tanks on the bulk plant and what seemed to be fire-suppression foam on the bottom close to it.
Earlier, the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah mentioned it wasn’t conscious of any casualties from the assault. It urged Americans to “review immediate precautions to take in the event of an attack and stay alert in case of additional future attacks.”
Saudi Aramco, the dominion’s oil large that now has a sliver of its price traded publicly on the inventory market, didn’t reply to a request for remark. Its inventory traded barely up Monday on Riyadh’s Tadawul inventory trade as crude oil costs remained regular above $40 a barrel.
The claimed assault comes simply after a go to by outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the dominion to see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman , a gathering that reportedly included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The kingdom additionally simply hosted the annual G-20 summit, which concluded Sunday.
A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis since March 2015, months after the rebels seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. The struggle has floor right into a stalemate since, with Saudi Arabia going through worldwide criticism for its airstrikes killing civilians.
The Houthis have used Quds, or “Jerusalem,” cruise missiles to focus on Saudi Arabia in the previous. The Quds-1 has a replica of a small, Czech-made TJ-100 jet engine, with a variety of 700 kilometers (435 miles). United Nations consultants have mentioned they don’t imagine the missiles are constructed in Yemen and as an alternative have been bought or traded to them in violation of an arms embargo.
Iran makes use of a replica of TJ-100 engines in its drone program. U.N. consultants, Arab nations and the West say Iran provides arms to the rebels, allegations denied by Tehran.
The Quds-1 was used in a missile-and-drone strike on the center of the dominion’s oil business in 2019 that shook international vitality markets. The U.S. believes Iran carried out that assault amid a sequence of escalating incidents final yr between Tehran and Washington, one thing the Islamic Republic denies.
Associated Press author Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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