The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has carried out a strike on fuel depot near the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, its spokesperson says. Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki accused the Houthis of using the Yemen Petroleum Company's al-Sabaha facility to fuel their war effort, including by supporting missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. The coalition earlier warned civilians to evacuate the site ahead of a "special operation", with Houthi media saying the facility had been struck before al-Maliki confirmed the strike.
The Houthis have warned they will retaliate by targeting the airport and Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, and Aramco's headquarters in the eastern city of Dammam. It came as the Saudi cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said the Iran-backed group would "bear the consequences" of its recent deadly attacks on the kingdom. Thirteen people were killed when a missile hit King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, while another person was killed in a similar attack there the following day.
On Tuesday, the coalition said its forces had destroyed three drones north of Riyadh. The Houthis have said they are targeting airports, oil and gas facilities, and military bases in Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones in response to deadly Saudi strikes on territory that they control in western Yemen, including Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition has been providing air support for Yemeni pro-government forces mounting an offensive on Yemen's Red Sea coast and several other front lines.
A correspondent for news agency reported that queues formed at petrol stations in Sanaa on Tuesday afternoon following the coalition's warning of an impending operation against the al-Sabaha oil facility, with many residents worried about shortages. The Yemen Petroleum Company, which is run by the Houthis, issued a statement that sought to reassure them, saying the facility "does not contain any stock of petroleum products". The company also said it had "taken all necessary precautionary measures to address any emergency, ensuring the stability of the supply situation and the continued meeting of citizens' needs in a normal manner".
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government from Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015, after the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government's rule. A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.
The Houthis said they were retaliating for what they call a Saudi blockade of their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom. The conflict escalated in September after the Houthis seized part of Yemen's south-western Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint for global shipping. Their advance contributed to a rise in oil prices following six months of war between the US, Israel and Iran.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
