(Jeddah) Yemeni Houthi rebels carried out a new series of attacks in Saudi Arabia on Friday, one of which caused a huge fire at an oil site in Jeddah near the Formula 1 circuit which hosts the Grand Prix.
Updated yesterday at 10:39 p.m.
These attacks come on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the intervention of the military coalition led by the kingdom in Yemen to support the Yemeni government against the Houthis, close to Iran. They caused no casualties according to Riyadh.
The rebels carried out 16 attacks in the south and in Jeddah (west) targeting various infrastructures, including a power station, a water station and oil installations, the coalition said in a statement.
The most impressive took place in Jeddah against tanks of the oil giant Aramco, causing a gigantic fire.
“The fire has been brought under control,” said coalition spokesman Turki al Maliki, assuring that the incident would not have an impact “on activities in Jeddah”.
It occurred not far from the Formula 1 circuit where the Grand Prix free practice is currently being held, scheduled for Sunday. The Formula 1 championship promoter has already indicated that the race will continue “as planned”. A four-hour meeting between the drivers, the bosses of their teams and the main leaders of the championship was held in the evening, without an official announcement at its end.
Air strikes in retaliation
The attacks, carried out with missiles and drones, were launched from the cities of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen in the hands of the insurgents, and Hodeida, also in the rebel zone.
They gave rise to retaliatory fire from the coalition, announced by the official Saudi agency SPA on the night of Friday to Saturday, “against sources of threat in Sanaa and Hodeidah”. “The military operation will continue until its objectives are achieved,” she added, quoting the coalition.
The United States has called the attacks by Yemeni rebels “unacceptable”. “We will continue to work with our Saudi partners to strengthen their defense systems while working toward a lasting solution to the conflict” in Yemen, State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.
“These attacks, which threaten the security of Saudi Arabia and the stability of the region, must stop immediately”, added the spokesperson for French diplomacy, Anne-Claire Legendre, pointing out “the seriousness of the threat ( linked to the) proliferation of drones and missiles”.
By targeting oil facilities, the Houthis are trying to “touch the nerve of the global economy”, Maliki said.
Oil prices have risen sharply since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine disrupted global supplies as Russia was hit by Western sanctions.
The Saudi kingdom, the world’s largest exporter of crude oil, had already warned on Monday of the risk of a drop in its oil production in the aftermath of several attacks claimed by the Houthis.
An official from the Saudi Ministry of Energy, quoted by the official SPA agency, again warned on Friday of the threat posed by these attacks “to the security of the world’s oil supply”.
“Saudi Arabia will not take responsibility for any shortage of oil supply in world markets,” the Saudi official added, accusing Iran of “continuing to supply drones and missiles” to the Houthis.
On Sunday, one of the attacks forced Aramco to “temporarily” cut production and dip into inventory to compensate.
Since the start of the Ukrainian crisis, Western countries have been pressing the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, to increase its production.
“Exercise restraint”
The Gulf monarchy, however, remained deaf to these calls, faithful to its commitments to the OPEC + alliance, which includes Russia, the second largest exporter of crude oil in the world.
Seven years after the first strikes on March 26, 2015 in Yemen, the military intervention led by Riyadh has shown its limits on the ground and accentuated one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
It made it possible to stop the advance of the Houthis in the South and the East, but not to dislodge them from the north of the country, in particular from the capital Sanaa.
According to the UN, the conflict has caused the death of nearly 380,000 people, the majority of them linked to hunger, disease and lack of drinking water.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which brings together six Arab petro-monarchies and is dominated by Saudi Arabia, indicated in mid-March that it was ready to organize peace talks with the Houthis, but the latter refused to participate. if they stood in Riyadh.
The coalition said Friday “show restraint” to give the talks a chance.