Image source: Reuters
The Ansar Allah group in Yemen (the Houthis) announced on Thursday the targeting of the “East-West” or “Petroline” pipeline, the Yanbu oil port on the Red Sea, and the Aramco company in Riyadh, in light of the continued strikes between fighters supported by Iran and Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition supporting the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
The military spokesman for the group, Yahya Saree, said in a statement on X that two operations were launched, the first targeting “pumping station number seven on the East-West line with a drone,” and the second targeting “the Yanbu oil facility with a ballistic missile.”
He added in a later post that the Ansar Allah group was able to "target the Aramco company in the Saudi enemy capital, Riyadh, with a drone, and the operation successfully achieved its goal."
The group repeatedly targets the "East-West" pipeline, in which Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that a limited fire had broken out as a result of the targeting, which did not result in any casualties or affect "the pipeline's operational operations."
The line is gaining increasing importance for Saudi Arabia in light of Iran's restriction of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the American-Israeli war against it in February.
The line allows Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, to transport oil from production fields in the east to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, and export via tankers without the need to use the Strait of Hormuz.
In recent weeks, the Houthi group has intensified its attacks on oil and civilian facilities and military sites in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-led coalition announced overnight the “interdiction and destruction of a drone launched by the Houthis in the Riyadh region.”
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Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki announced in a post on X the interception and destruction of a drone in the Saudi capital region and another in the oil-rich eastern region.
Image source: EPA
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The Civil Defense also announced that fragments of two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthi group had fallen on the village of Sabouha, located about 35 kilometers east of Mecca.
In response to this, Saree wrote on XN, “What the criminal Saudi enemy is promoting about intercepting two missiles in the skies of Mecca is a great slander.”
The coalition repeatedly announced the interception of missiles and drones launched towards Mecca and Medina, but the Houthis have always denied any targeting of the two regions.
On Thursday, the Yemeni army announced the implementation of 703 air and ground operations targeting sites, gatherings and fortifications of the Houthi group on a number of fronts, noting that they resulted in the killing, wounding and escape of 219 leaders and members of the group, in addition to the destruction of 103 military vehicles and equipment.
The official spokesman for the government army, Majid Al-Nuzaili, said in a statement that the operations were carried out within the framework of the combat missions of Operation “Yemen Dawn” and targeted Houthi positions, gatherings, fortifications and sources of fire on various combat fronts.
He explained that the operations included 13 air strikes, 67 targeting operations using drones, and 42 operations using launchers, in addition to 581 operations carried out by field artillery.
The European Union announced its readiness to launch a new initiative aimed at strengthening maritime security and economic resilience in Yemen, and combating weapons smuggling through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, in conjunction with official Yemeni movements to urge EU countries to classify the Houthi group as a terrorist organization.
The European Union Commissioner for Mediterranean Affairs, Dubravka Świča, said after her meeting with Yemeni Foreign Minister Afrah Al-Zuba in Brussels, that the anticipated initiative will be based on existing European efforts to support the Yemeni Coast Guard and protect freedom of maritime navigation.
During a session of the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, the Yemeni Foreign Minister called on the 27 member states to activate the European Parliament’s demand regarding the classification of the Ansar Allah Houthi group as a terrorist organization, allowing the prosecution of the group’s financing and arming networks, warning of the repercussions of Iranian military support for it.
For weeks, the group has been responsible for attacks on Saudi airports, energy facilities, and military sites, while repeatedly targeting the oil infrastructure of the Kingdom, the largest exporter of crude oil in the world.
On Sunday, a Houthi attack damaged a skyscraper belonging to the giant Aramco oil company in the King Abdullah Financial Center in Riyadh.
An attack targeting King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh in October killed 14 people, injured hundreds, and led to the suspension of flights for two weeks.
26 people have been killed in Houthi attacks since September, including 23 in attacks on Saudi airports, according to authorities in the Kingdom.
The conflict broke out in Yemen in 2014 when the Ansar Allah group launched an attack on government forces and took control of large areas of the country.
A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in 2015 to support the government, which moved its temporary headquarters to the city of Aden in the south.
Fighting resumed in July after a truce that had been in place since 2022 collapsed.
Since then, more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 have been forced to flee, according to the United Nations.
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