Yemen’s Ansar Allah group (Houthis) said on Saturday that it had carried out the largest attack on the Kingdom since the start of the “aggression on Yemen”, targeting a field and an oil refinery in the Kingdom near the border with the UAE, using ten drones.
Military spokesman Brigadier-General Yahya Sari said the group’s planes targeted the Saudi Aramco Shaybah field and refinery, a field well known for its proximity to Abu Dhabi. The spokesman said the field contained the largest strategic oil reserves in the Kingdom.
While there was no immediate comment from Riyadh, the Houthis said the targeting was part of an operation they called “the first deterrent balance.”
In May, Houthis had targeted two oil pipeline stations in the Kingdom, and the latter confirmed the suspension of exports due to damages.
Brigadier-General Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Houthis, said in a press statement today that ten drones targeted the Shaybah oilfield and refinery of Aramco in the east of the Kingdom.
“The Shaybah field and refinery has the largest strategic oil reserves in the Kingdom, and can produce more than one billion barrels.”
“This operation, called the first deterrent balance, comes within the framework of deterrence and legitimate deterrence to crimes of aggression and siege,” he said.
The spokesman promised the Saud House regime to carry out larger and wider operations if the aggression continued.
“The forces of aggression and the Saud House regime have no choice but to stop the war and lift the siege on the Yemeni people,” he said.
He called on all companies and civilians to “stay away from all vital sites and targets in the Kingdom because they have become legitimate targets and can be hit at any time.”
On the other hand, a spokesman for the Houthis Mohammad Abdul Salam said that the targeting of facilities in the Kingdom by drones came to respond to “crimes and siege” in Yemen.
“The process of targeting vital Saudi installations came in response to the continued aggression in committing genocide and siege on an entire people,” Abdul Salam wrote on his Twitter account. “Our dear people have no choice but to defend themselves.”
Yemen is witnessing a violent war between government forces backed by the Arab coalition forces led by the House of Saud, on the one hand, and the Houthi militants on the other hand for more than four years have left significant material and human losses on both sides, including civilians.
The Houthis have recently stepped up attacks by drones on Saudi military and civilian sites, as the group spoke of a bank with 300 targets inside Saudi territory.
In May, the Houthis announced a similar attack with seven drones that it said targeted Aramco.