Manama : Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched drone and ballistic missile attack on a Saudi Aramco oil facility in the eastern province on Sunday.
An oil storage yard at Ras Tanura Port was attacked with a drone in the morning, and shrapnel from a ballistic missile fell near Aramco’s residential compound in Dhahran in the evening, according to an energy ministry statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.
“One of the petroleum tank areas at the Ras Tanura Port in the Eastern Region was attacked this morning by a drone, coming from the sea,” the Saudi energy ministry said.
There were no casualties or loss of property in either attack.
The drone that was used to attack the oil facility at Ras Tanura port was launched from the sea, according to the statement.
Ras Tanura Port is one of the largest oil shipping ports in the world, and this the first time the Houthi has reached the company's facilities in that area.
Aramco’s residential compound in Dhahran hosts thousands of the company’s local and foreign employees and their families.
The Eastern province is home to most of Saudi Aramco’s oil production and export facilities.
The defense ministry said both the drone and the missile were intercepted and destroyed.
As the missile targeting the Aramco site was shot down, it “resulted in scattered debris that fell in close proximity to civilians and civilian objects,” ministry spokesman Brig.-Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said.
The attacks come after the Arab coalition said it had launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen after a wave of drone attacks.
The Iran-backed militia fired explosive-laden drones and missiles targeting south-west Saudi on Sunday. The coalition said earlier on Sunday it intercepted 12 drones and two ballistic missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthis. The ballistic missiles were fired towards Jazan, about 50 kilometers from the Yemen border.
Following the waves of cross-border drone attacks, the coalition conducted airstrikes on Houthi military targets in Sanaa and other regions and warned that attacking civilians and civilian objects in Saudi is a red line.
Acts of sabotage and hostility: Saudi energy ministry
Saudi Arabia stressed that it will take the necessary measures to preserve global energy security.
“The Kingdom condemns and criminalizes such repeated acts of sabotage and hostility,” a ministry spokesman said. “Such acts of sabotage do not only target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also the security and stability of energy supplies to the world, and therefore, the global economy. They affect the security of petroleum exports, freedom of world trade, and maritime traffic,” he added.
The attacks on a petroleum tank farm at Ras Tanura port and on Aramco facilities in Dhahran were cowardly terrorist attacks, a defence ministry spokesman said in a statement on SPA.
In an advisory, the US mission in Saudi urged its citizens to take precautions after reports of possible attacks and explosion in the area of Dhahran, Dammam and Khobar in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
Saudi Aramco has been attacked by Houthis before. On September 19, they attacked Abqaiq crude processing plant and Khurais oil field with drones. Recently, on March 4, Houthis claimed that they had managed to hit Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah with a missile, but it was yet to be confirmed by Saudi authorities.
