An oil depot in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah was struck by a rocket and drone attack launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, creating a fiery blaze that could be seen for miles.
What Happened: The oil depot is owned by Aramco, the Saudi-owned public petroleum and natural gas company. Bloomberg reported the attack targeted Aramco’s North Jeddah Bulk Plant, a storage facility focused on serving the kingdom’s domestic energy needs and not the global oil market.
Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya television reported the fire at the facility was brought under control and there were no casualties. Al Arabiya also reported attacks on water tanks in the town of Dhahran, an electrical substation in an area of southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border.
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Why It Happened: The Houthis have carried out thousands of cross-border missile and drone attacks into Saudi Arabia in the years since 2015 when the Saudi military became involved in the Yemeni civil war.
This is the second attack by the Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia this week. On Sunday, the Houthi group launched a missile and drone assault on Saudi energy and water desalination facilities — there were no casualties from that attack and only a brief suspension in operations at that facility.
A Formula One auto race is scheduled to take place this Sunday in Jeddah. The race’s organizers issued a statement that said, “The position at the moment is that we are waiting for further information from the authorities on what has happened.”
