Houthis Target Saudi Aramco Refinery in Drone Attack
On August 9, Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery. According to the Houthis, they targeted the refinery with a drone, but the Saudi energy ministry said only that a fire broke out and was later extinguished.
The refinery processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day in south-western Saudi Arabia, and no injuries were reported. The attack comes just two days after Saudi Arabia signed a defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan, aimed at strengthening collective deterrence against any act of aggression.
Aramco chief Amin Nasser had previously said that recent attacks on the company's facilities had caused some production interruptions but had 'no material operational or financial impact'. The attack is part of an escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed groups, which have been firing on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.