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Yemen targets Saudi’s Aramco in response to airstrikes on Sana’a
Yemen’s resistance forces launched attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on Saturday following major strikes by Saudi military on Yemen’s capital.
Flames and smoke were seen rising from a facility belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco south of the kingdom's capital Riyadh on Saturday, AFP said.
The circumstances remained unclear but in recent weeks Aramco, majority-owned by the Saudi state, has come under attack from Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance group targeting the kingdom as part of the war in Yemen where Riyadh is backing forces south of the country.
Aramco remains the flagship company of the Saudi economy and one of the largest firms in the world by market capitalization.
Last month, the Ansarullah group said that it launched strikes targeting "sensitive sites" in Riyadh and Aramco facilities in the kingdom's port city of Yanbu.
In August the group also targeted an airport and a facility belonging to Aramco in Saudi Arabia's southern Najran region.
Loud explosions were also heard in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a on Saturday, as the group reported airstrikes in the area by Saudi forces.
One correspondent heard at least five blasts in different areas, while another saw two warplanes firing missiles on the city.
Al-Masirah TV reported "Saudi aggression" against the capital, without providing details on the targets or casualties.
The channel had also earlier on Saturday reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in the northwestern governorate of Saada.
Saudi Arabia bombed the Yemeni capital on Thursday night for the first time since renewed fighting broke out between the two sides in July, Ansarullah said.
After several years of calm, Yemen was plunged back into war in July, pitting Ansarullah, who control most of northwest Yemen including Sana’a, against Yemen's Saudi-backed forces.
The government, based in the city of Aden, controls much of the country's south and east – a region that is larger but less populated.