Houthis claim missile, drone strike on Aramco in Riyadh

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said Saturday they fired ballistic missiles and drones at a Saudi Aramco facility in Riyadh. They called it retaliation for Saudi strikes on Sanaa and other provinces. A witness told Reuters a large plume of smoke and fire was rising near an Aramco facility in the Saudi capital earlier in the day. The Saudi-led coalition dismissed the Houthi claims as "misleading".reuters+1

The claimed strike would be one of the deepest Houthi attacks into Saudi territory in a conflict that has grown in recent weeks. The fighting followed the collapse of a ceasefire and has spread to Red Sea shipping lanes.themedialine

Competing accounts

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised statement that the operation had "successfully achieved its objective" and set fires at the targeted sites. He gave no details on damage or casualties. An AFP journalist reported smoke and flames rising from an oil company facility south of Riyadh. Saudi authorities did not confirm an attack, and Aramco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.middleeasteye+3

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi losses in Taiz and on other fronts "makes them search for imaginary victories." He called the claim "an attempt to divert attention from the scale of the losses". He did not explain the reported fire.arabnews

Escalation on both sides

Saree said Sanaa and other provinces had been hit by 60 airstrikes in the previous 24 hours, which he blamed on Saudi Arabia. He warned the group would meet "blockade with blockade, and escalation with escalation". Houthi figures for the total number of strikes since the escalation began have varied between reports, from 1,410 to 1,420.aa+1

Yemen's government forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, said they carried out 257 strikes on Houthi positions using warplanes, drones, artillery and missiles, with most of the effort on the Taiz fronts. Spokesman Majid al-Nuzaili said at least 700 Houthi fighters had been killed or wounded and 170 vehicles destroyed. Those figures could not be independently verified.english.aawsat

Weeks of cross-border attacks

Last week the Houthis said they had attacked Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted six ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and the Yanbu area and did not report damage to Aramco sites.reuters

Tensions rose after the Houthis announced a ban on Saudi-linked vessels at Red Sea ports under their control on July 20. In September, the group captured the port city of Mocha and Mayyun Island. It now controls Yemen's entire Red Sea coast and the Bab el-Mandeb strait.english.news+1

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government since March 2015. The Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014.aa