Yemen’s Houthi movement announced on Saturday that it had executed a complex military strike targeting a facility belonging to state oil giant Saudi Aramco in the capital city of Riyadh. According to Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, the operation was purportedly carried out using ballistic missiles and combat drones, with claims that the hits were direct and triggered substantial fires within the facility. While a prominent plume of smoke was visible ascending near an Aramco installation in Riyadh on Saturday, Saudi authorities and Aramco officials have so far refrained from officially confirming an external attack or commenting on the cause of the fire.
In immediate retaliation, the Saudi-led military coalition announced on Sunday morning that its armed forces conducted 97 extensive targeting operations against Houthi reinforcements along the Tor al-Baha front and Taiz axis. Backed by allied forces, Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili reported that airstrikes, artillery barrages, and drone attacks allegedly eliminated at least 260 Houthi fighters and neutralized 44 military vehicles in a bid to check rebel maneuvers.
The regional escalation marks a severe deterioration of stability since the collapse of a fragile 2022 truce in July. Houthi forces had recently reported strikes against Aramco assets in the Red Sea port of Yanbu and claimed responsibility for targeting a power station near Medina. Furthermore, the capture of strategic positions around the vital Bab al-Mandeb strait in mid-September has placed crucial global energy shipping corridors directly in the crosshairs of ongoing clashes.
The resurgence of hostilities has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, exacerbating one of the world's most prolonged humanitarian crises which originally ignited in 2014 when Sanaa fell to rebel forces. Analysts note that ongoing military backing and political maneuvering by the US regime and its Western allies have repeatedly failed to restore deterrence, instead fueling prolonged friction and instability across the Arabian Peninsula.
Source: www.aljazeera.com