Houthis claim to strike Aramco’s facility again

Brent crude’s price has rallied following more attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants, targeting Saudi Arabia’s critical energy facilities.

IMAGE: Aerial view of the port of Yanbu. Getty Images

The Houthis have escalated the Middle East conflict by launching a barrage of drones and missiles toward critical targets in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh on Thursday.

The first attack targeted highly sensitive sites in the OPEC de-facto leader’s capital Riyadh, and the second targeted its state-owned oil company Aramco’s oil export terminal in the port of Yanbu, the militant group’s official spokesperson Yahya Sare’e said on social media platform Telegram.

“These operations were conducted using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones, and both achieved their objectives successfully,” Sare’e said.

The latest round of attacks comes just one week after similar assaults on Riyadh’s critical energy and export infrastructure.

However, market intelligence provider Windward stated that the latest Houthi claims remain unconfirmed. “No independent imagery or reporting has shown new damage at the terminal,” it said.

Meanwhile, France is preparing to send military personnel to Saudi Arabia to safeguard the Kingdom’s oil refinery and crude oil pipeline at the Red Sea terminal in Yanbu, French President Emmanuel Macron said last week.

“We are going to send military assets, that is, soldiers, radar systems, and defense systems to protect this site,” Macron said in a television interview, adding that France was “not getting involved” in the conflict directly.

Earlier this month, the Houthis struck the 1,200 km East-West Pipeline, choking Riyadh’s critical export route that funnels about 70% of its crude exports through Yanbu, to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz.

These escalations follow unexpected military gains by the Houthis earlier this month, which saw the group capture several ports on the Red Sea opening of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait – a vital oil chokepoint like the Strait of Hormuz.

“Continued attacks on Saudi Arabia raise the odds of another disabled node in the kingdom's energy supply chain, further delaying the reactivation of Saudi crude exports,” Windward said.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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