Rocket and drone strikes fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels at Saudi targets last week – including at Aramco oil facilities – were successfully shot down by Saudi air defenses, according to the Wall Street Journal which cited Saudi officials.
Saudi officials familiar with the matter “said all strikes on Saudi Arabia last week were foiled,” the WSJ reports, noting that Aramco declined to comment.
According to Reuters, few details are available of the precise nature and timing of the attacks. A Houthi spokesperson said that Saudi Aramco facilities in Jizan on the Red Sea were targeted, along with other targets near the border with Yemen, including Abha and Jizan airports and Khamis Mushait military base, “with a large number of rockets and drones.”
The attacks follow an uptick in violence between the two sides as a permanent peace deal remains elusive, despite continued attempts and ongoing talks. As the WSJ notes, the attacks by the Houthis follow another strike by the Iran-backed group earlier this month, killing over 100 people at a Yemeni government military camp.
The successful prevention of an attack on Saudi oil facilities by the Kingdom’s air defenses would amount to a significant win for the Saudis, who suffered a major attack on oil facilities in September. Iran is widely blamed for those attacks.
