Yemeni Houthi rebels claim more attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities

London — Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed attacks on Saudi Aramco installations in Ras Tanura, Rabigh, Yanbu and Jazan as well as a military base in Dammam near the company's headquarters, the group's affiliated Al Masirah news agency reported March 26.

The strikes, the latest in a series of attacks launched by the Houthis at Saudi Arabia, were carried out with 12 armed drones and eight ballistic missiles, the report stated.

Saudi Aramco had no immediate comment.

The Saudi energy and defense ministries said a petroleum product distribution terminal in Jazan, a port city in Saudi Arabia's far southwest where Aramco is readying a 400,000 b/d refinery, had been hit by a projectile at 9:08 pm (1808 GMT) on March 25.

A storage tank caught fire, but there were no casualties, the energy ministry said.

The defense ministry further said it had intercepted and destroyed eight armed drones, while two ballistic missiles fell in uninhabited areas and a third fell short of its target in Al-Jawf governate.

"The Ministry of Defense will undertake all necessary, deterrent measures to safeguard its national assets in a manner that preserves the security of global energy, and puts an end to these assaults, in order to guarantee the security and stability of energy supplies and petroleum exports, and safeguard civilians and civilian objects," it said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The strikes come three weeks after Saudi forces intercepted a missile on March 4 in Jazan.

On March 7, a drone attack targeted an Aramco tank farm at the Ras Tanura terminal, which exports most of the company's crude, and on March 19, officials said Aramco's 140,000 b/d Riyadh refinery was hit by a missile, causing fires. The facility is being brought back online, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said two days later.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in a seven-year proxy war in Yemen, which has caused a humanitarian and political crisis. Saudi Arabia on March 22 offered to enact a ceasefire and to ease the air and sea blockade it has imposed on Houthi territory, but Houthi commanders have so far been cool to the deal.