Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have launched a drone attack against an oil refinery in southern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, amid an intensification of their operations against Riyadh, which backs the Yemeni government.
According to the rebels' Saba news agency, citing a military source, the Houthis "attacked the Aramco refinery" in Jazan, located on the shores of the Red Sea, "with multiple drones". The agency stated that the operation was a response "to violations of Yemen's airspace". The rebels claimed responsibility last week for another attack against the same refinery of the Saudi state-owned company.
A ceasefire that had been in place since 2022 between the Houthis and the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government collapsed last month. Since then, the Houthis have attacked Saudi infrastructure and vessels on several occasions after announcing a blockade against the kingdom's fleet in the Red Sea, where they have disrupted an important commercial route for the transport of hydrocarbons.
The war in Yemen, which began in 2014, has left hundreds of thousands dead and has sparked a serious humanitarian crisis in what was already the poorest country in the Arabian peninsula.