Yemen Confirms Drone Attacks on Aramco Facilities in Saudi Arabia
Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a statement that the Yemeni forces, in their second such attack in the depth of the Saudi territory, targeted the Aramco facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais provinces.
He added that 10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) took part in the operation.
Noting that the attacks were carried out in response to the crimes committed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, he stressed that future such attacks will be more devastating if Riyadh fails to end the war and blockade of Yemen.
Abqaiq, 60 km (37 miles) southwest of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, contains the world’s largest oil processing plant. Khurais, 190 km further southwest, contains the country’s second largest oilfield.
Houthi Ansarullah fighters in Yemen have launched attacks over the border, hitting Shaybah oilfield with drones last month and two oil pumping stations in May. Both attacks caused fires but did not disrupt production.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 91,000 lives over the past four and a half years.
The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.
