Aug 9 (Reuters) – 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 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.
JAZAN REFINERY WAS SHUT IN LATE JULY
Three Yemeni government sources told Reuters that air defences were engaging drones launched by the Houthis towards the commercial quay and storage in the port.
Saree said the Houthi strikes targeted Saudi troops and weapons arsenal in the area. There was no Saudi comment on the attacks in Yemen.
Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed presidential council, on Sunday briefed U.S. Mission to Yemen Chargé d’Affaires Neil Hop on the developments, according to a statement.
He said the Houthis’ attack put a responsibility on the international community, foremost among them the U.S., to “move beyond only containing the Houthi threat to addressing its sources and instruments”.
SEVEN PEOPLE KILLED, YEMENI SPOKESPERSON SAYS
The Yemeni military spokesperson said the attack on the port killed seven people.
The Yemeni transportation ministry said in a statement that the attack caused severe damage to the port’s infrastructure.
“This marks yet another assault on a vital civilian facility that serves citizens and contributes to boosting commercial and maritime activity in the Red Sea,” the ministry said.
Iran and its allied Shi’ite Muslim armed groups have been firing on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and blockading their energy shipments since the U.S. and Israel attacked the country on February 28 in a major escalation after years of regional tumult.
Talks have dragged on between the U.S. and Iran in pursuit of a peace deal, with access to the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for energy supplies, proving a major stumbling block.
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have aggravated the disruptions of supplies to global markets.
Pakistan’s military, air force, prime minister’s office and information and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment and the Turkish government did not respond to a request on Sunday for comment on the implications of the refinery attack.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday, as the alliance was announced, that it was not directed against Iran or any other country, but rather served as a general pledge to support the three allies’ security.
Fidan said the allies would decide through consultations what degree, form, and format of support they would ask for in the event of an attack on any of them.
(Reporting by Hatem Maher, Nayera Abdallah, Tala Ramadan, Mohammed Ghobari in Aden, Menna Alaa El-Din in Cairo and Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din in Cairo; Editing by William Mallard, Lincoln Feast, Philippa Fletcher and Barbara Lewis)
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