Yemen’s retaliatory missiles, drones hit Saudi oil facilities, airbase
The Yemeni military launched missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities and a major airbase on Saturday in retaliation for the latest Saudi military aggression as hostilities between the two neighboring countries resumed after four-year lull.
Yemen’s Armed Forces said that they launched missile strike on a major airbase in Saudi Arabia’s southern region of Asir with local media outlets reporting that the ballistic missiles hit designated targets inside King Khalid Air Base near the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait early on Saturday.
The development came shortly after the Yemeni Armed Forces struck an oil facility belonging to the state-owned petroleum and natural gas company Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Jizan, using several ballistic missiles.
Local outlets reported that some areas of Jizan experienced electricity blackouts following strikes in the area. Additionally, powerful explosions rocked the Saudi port city of Yanbu.
In a video statement, military spokesman Yahya Saree said Yemen’s Armed Forces targeted sites operated by the Saudi oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu, threatening to expand the response if attacked by the monarchy.
A video circulating on social media showed dark clouds rising above a refinery belonging to Aramco in Jizan. Live flight trackers that show air traffic in real time reported that flights to Riyadh and other cities were diverted after Yemeni forces launched strikes. Prince Abdulmohsen Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Yanbu and King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport, also known as Jizan International Airport, suspended their operations as a result.
Saudi aggression on Yemeni soil
Late on Friday, Saudi fighter jets launched air raids against telecommunications facilities and oil depots in Yemen’s strategic coastal province of Hudaydah, but there were no immediate reports about the extent of damage caused.
The developments followed a missile strike by Yemen against Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport in Yemen on the pretext of breaking the blockade on Yemen by an Iranian plane. Yemen’s Armed Forces on Monday said they were declaring "a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of 'an eye for an eye', effective immediately".
Yahya Saree said in a televised address that the blockade was in response to a “continued Saudi siege” on Yemen, and that the country’s Armed Forces were ready to meet any Saudi retaliation with “a total and harsh escalation”. A full closure of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea, would halt Saudi oil exports to Asia and could reduce global oil supply by 7%.
Saudi Arabia has diverted 70 percent of its energy exports through the Red Sea. A disruption of the path of transit could become a larger issue for the global energy crisis sparked by the US-Israeli aggression against Iran. Growing concern over new threats to shipping in the Red Sea helped push the price of crude oil back over $100 a barrel this week – the highest level since May.
No military solution
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reacted to the developments in Yemen, saying on Saturday there was no military solution to the escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and the and Yemen.
"We believe that there is no military solution to the issue of Yemen, Bab el-Mandab, and other regional issues," said Araghchi in an interview published on Saturday by Iran newspaper, calling for "dialogue."
He said the situation in Yemen "cannot be attributed to Iran," and that the incidents occurring in the area of the Bab el-Mandab Strait were "rooted in old disputes and issues between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the countries of the region.”
Yemen has been at war with a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, in a devastating conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and triggered a major humanitarian crisis. However, fighting in the poverty-stricken Arabian Peninsula country had been largely frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022.