Houthi strikes ignite fires at Saudi oil sites, injure 73
More than 70 people were wounded and several oil facilities and utilities in southern Saudi Arabia were set ablaze after a series of Houthi attacks, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to vow retaliation.
A series of attacks by Yemen's Houthi militia on Tuesday targeted civilian and economic infrastructure in the Saudi cities of Abha, Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait, Saudi coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said. The strikes wounded 73 people, including women and children, and sparked fires at multiple oil facilities and utilities in the kingdom's southern region, the Energy Ministry reported. Firefighters worked to contain the blazes, and operations at the affected sites were temporarily halted.
Al-Malki described the attacks as a serious escalation and a violation of Saudi sovereignty, and said the Saudi-led coalition would take all necessary operational measures to deter the Houthi militia. The Houthis did not issue a comment on the specific attacks but indicated a statement on a large-scale operation inside Saudi Arabia would follow. Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, used social media to praise the attacks, saying the Saudi enemy must understand that its actions against Yemen will no longer go unanswered.
The incidents occurred hours after the Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for an airstrike on a prison in Yemen's Jawf province that killed at least seven people, including a child. The latest violence follows weeks of intensified fighting that have broken a four-year truce in Yemen's civil war, which began in 2014 and has caused over 150,000 deaths according to United Nations estimates.