Missiles fired at Aramco facility destroyed

Riyadh : Yemen’s armed Houthi militia fired two ballistic missiles at a Saudi Aramco facility in the southern city of Jizan yesterday, but both projectiles were destroyed, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

The Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV said they had targeted a port belonging to the Saudi state oil giant.

The two missiles were intercepted over Jizan and their debris fell on residential neighbourhoods, SPA said quoting the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition.

“There were no casualties or damages recorded as of the time of (our) statement,” Colonel Turki Al Maliki said.

Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company is building a 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Jizan, part of a new economic city on the Red Sea, and it is expected to become fully operational in 2019.

Militia under pressure

The new missile attack comes a day after Saudi air defences intercepted another ballistic missile fired by Yemeni rebels at the Kingdom’s southern border city of Najran, as pro-government forces inflicted heavy losses on the rebels in south-west Yemen.

That missile was launched from Saada, the Houthi stronghold in northern Yemen, the coalition was cited as saying on Sunday.

The coalition said another missile crashed in a Saudi desert on Sunday, without specifying a location, adding that it caused no damage.

The Houthi militia has stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia as their forces come under increasing pressure in Yemen, with Sunday’s missile attacks the latest in a series of rebel bombardments of Saudi territory.

Saudi forces said they intercepted a rebel ballistic missile targeting kingdom’s southern coastal city of Jazan last Friday.

Earlier this month, Saudi forces said they intercepted rebel ballistic missiles fired at Riyadh and the south of the Kingdom, where two drones were also shot down.

Saudi Arabia-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since March 2015 to restore Yemen’s internationally recognised government to power. The Houthis are armed and supported by Iran. Nearly 10,000 people have since been killed in the conflict.