RIAZ: A raging fire has been reported at an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jeddah with Yemen’s Houthis rebels acknowledging they had launched a series of attacks on the kingdom, Al Jazeera News reported on Friday.
It said that Saudi state media on Friday reported a string of drone and rocket attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group and a huge plume of black smoke was seen rising in Jeddah which is due to host a Formula One race on Sunday.
While Saudi Arabia and state-run Saudi Aramco did not immediately acknowledge the blaze, it appeared to be centered on the same fuel depot that the Houthis attacked in recent days.
Later on Friday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group attacked Aramco’s facilities with missiles and the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries with drones.
Sarea added that the attack also targeted vital facilities in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Al Arabiya TV, quoting the coalition, said the kingdom’s air defense system destroyed two explosive-laden drones targeting Najran.
The attacks came as Saudi Arabia led a coalition battling the Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital of Sanaa in September 2014.
The kingdom, which entered the Yemen war in 2015, has been internationally criticized for its airs raids killing that have killed dozens of civilians – something the Houthis point to as they launch drones, missiles, and mortars into the kingdom.
Saudi state television acknowledged attacks in the town of Dhahran that hit water tanks while also damaging vehicles and houses.
Another attack targeted an electrical substation in an area of southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border, state TV said.
The North Jeddah Bulk Plant stores diesel, petrol and jet fuel for use in the city. It accounts for more than a quarter of all of Saudi Arabia’s supplies and also supplies fuel crucial to running a regional desalination plant.
