Drone Attack Causes ‘temporary reduction’ in Saudi Oil Output

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired drones and missiles at Saudi water and energy desalination facilities causing no causalities, but a temporary drop in output at a refinery.

The drone strikes and ballistic and cruise missiles used by Houthis hit Yanbu’s gas plant, the Yasref refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea, and a petroleum products distribution terminal in the southern Jizan region. The Houthis also targeted Al-Shaqeeq desalination plant, Aramco’s Jizan bulk plant, Dhahran Al-Janoub power station, a gas station in Khamis Mushait and an Aramco gas plant in Yanbu.

The kingdom’s oil facilities have been targeted by Houthis in the past. The Saudi coalition, however said that it intercepted a missile and shot down nine drones, causing material damage but no loss of life.

As an attempt to end Yemen’s civil war, the Gulf Cooperation Council invited the Houthis to peace negotiations in Riyadh, expected between March 29 and April 7, but they rejected the invitation. The strikes came days after the invitation.

Since Yemen’s 2015 civil war, Saudi Arabia has been fighting against the Houthis, who overran Sana’a, the capital of Yemen and removed the government from power. Since then, Houthis remain in control of the capital as well as much of northern Yemen.

Yemen’s conflict is seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran and has killed more than 150,000 people- both fighters and civilians- while around 13 million people are likely to be hit by starvation as a result of a lack of funding for humanitarian aid and prolonged civil conflict.

Of the estimated 233,000 deaths in Yemen since 2015, 131,000 are the result of indirect causes, for instance food insecurity and lack of access to health services, the UN estimates. Similarly, five million Yemenis are at a risk of famine, one million people have been affected by a cholera outbreak, and nearly twenty-five million remain in need of assistance. The war has turned into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.