Yemen's Houthis launched their third attack on Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery since July 25, with the latest strike announced Thursday as the second attack in less than a week, according to reports from Yemen Monitor and The Business Times. The militant group fired two drones at the refinery on the Red Sea coast, as reported by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency citing an unidentified military source. The Saudi government and Aramco did not immediately comment on the claim outside of regular business hours. The strike follows a deadly Houthi attack on a ship in the Red Sea as the renewed conflict takes its toll on shipping operations in the region. As per Bloomberg, neither Saudi Arabia nor Aramco has confirmed the attack as of the time of writing.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy announced that a fire broke out at the refinery on Sunday, which has a capacity of approximately 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day, as reported by Yemen Monitor and The Business Times. The latest attack resulted in negligible damage to a tank at the refinery, according to one person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information isn't public, as reported by Business Standard. This follows Sunday's incident where the group hit the refinery, setting it on fire before Saudi authorities put it out. One crude storage tank at the refinery was impacted in the Sunday incident, a person familiar with that event said. Bloomberg cited a person familiar with the incident as saying a storage tank sustained negligible damage.
The Houthis stated the attack was carried out in response to the kingdom's 'violation' of Yemen's airspace and sovereignty in Sa'dah and Hajjah, according to the report from Yemen Monitor and The Business Times. The group's Saba news agency quoted a military source as saying the attack was carried out in response to what the Houthis described as Saudi Arabia's 'violation' of Yemeni airspace and sovereignty in the governorates of Saada and Hajjah. The source threatened to continue retaliatory attacks, with no injuries reported in either attack, the country's energy ministry said at the time without providing further details on the Sunday incident. The Houthis said they remain committed to responding to any violations of Yemen's sovereignty.
The Houthi announcement comes amid rising tensions along the Saudi-Yemeni border and in the Red Sea, as reported by Yemen Monitor. On Thursday, the X platform also suspended the account of the group's military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, without providing a specific reason for the action. Earlier Thursday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg warned the Security Council that Houthi attacks and threats against maritime navigation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden could draw Yemen into the wider regional conflict. Grundberg said Yemen faces the risk of returning to a full-scale conflict, the largest since the 2022 truce, and called on the Houthis to de-escalate and halt attacks and threats targeting maritime navigation, as well as cross-border attacks. In July, the Houthis said they would blockade Saudi Arabia's oil flows in response to a Saudi blockade of Yemeni territory.
