Circulating videos showed the scale of the huge fire that broke out at a petroleum products distribution station for Saudi Aramco in Jeddah as a result of an attack launched by the Iran-aligned Houthi group, on Friday.
Flames and columns of black smoke were seen rising from at least one tank used for storing petroleum products.
JUST IN: Reported attack targeting Aramco facility near Jeddah, #Saudi Arabia. Air traffic paused. Awaiting official confirmation: pic.twitter.com/guzornKwAU
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) March 25, 2022
Later, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen announced that it had brought under control a fire that broke out in two tanks at the oil facility, without causing any injuries.
Video reported to be of the Saudi Aramco blaze in Jeddah following a Houthi missile strike on Friday pic.twitter.com/AjpEyjQm0m
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) March 25, 2022
And Saudi media had reported earlier that the coalition had thwarted a series of drone and missile attacks launched by the Houthis.
Saudi Aramco Facilities Targeted By Ansarallah Drones & Missiles In Jeddah, Massive Fires Reported. This is the largest attack in years, oil prices likely to soar.
The strikes coming from Yemen may now make people realise why we can’t ignore this war, backed by the UK-US. pic.twitter.com/FdME0mp79P
— Robert Inlakesh (@falasteen47) March 25, 2022
In the wake of the attack, the Saudi official agency quoted the Ministry of Energy as saying on Friday that the kingdom will not bear responsibility for the shortage of oil supplies in global markets caused by Houthi attacks on its oil facilities.
Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which has been fighting a Saudi-led coalition for seven years, said the group had fired missiles at Aramco facilities in Jeddah and drones at the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries. He said they also targeted “vital installations” in the capital, Riyadh.
The attacks come on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the start of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen to confront the Houthi rebels close to Iran.
It also came at a time when oil prices are recording a significant increase once morest the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, and global supplies are experiencing disruptions as a result of Western sanctions imposed on Russia.
