Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery, they said on Sunday, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
The alliance with Sunni Muslim U.S. allies, Turkey and Pakistan, is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all.
It was not clear whether or how either Pakistan or Turkey would join in any Saudi response to the latest attacks.
The Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month, citing what they said was a Saudi siege on them, an allegation Riyadh denies.
The Saudi energy ministry said a fire had broken out at the refinery but was later extinguished with no injuries and authorities were dealing with the incident, without giving a cause.
The Houthis used a drone to target the refinery, military spokesperson Yahya Saree posted on X. They had struck Aramco (2222.SE), opens new tab sites before in Jazan, which processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day in southwestern Saudi Arabia. They had also hit Yanbu on the Red Sea.
In a separate statement, Saree said the Houthis carried out missile and drone strikes on the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Mocha.
The port, controlled by the Aden-based government, is close to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, which links the southern Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Should it be closed, Saudi Arabia would be deprived of an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.–Reuters
