Yemen rebels attack Saudi energy, desalination facilities

Gulf Today Report

Yemen’s Houthi rebels unleashed a barrage of drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia early on Sunday that targeted a liquified natural gas plant, water desalination plant, oil facility and power station, Saudi state-run media reported.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group launched missile in the kingdom that caused some material damage but no deaths.

It said the attacks were aimed at a water desalination plant in Al-Shaqeeq, an Aramco distribution station in Jizan, a power station in Dhahran al Janub, a gas facility in Khamis Mushait and an Aramco liquefied natural gas plant in Yanbu.

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The attacks did not cause casualties, the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen said, but damaged civilian vehicles and homes in the area. The salvo marked the latest escalation in Houthi cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia as peace talks remain stalled and the conflict that has laid waste to much of Yemen since 2015 rages on.

Yehia Sarie, a spokesman for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said the group had launched "a wide and large military operation into the depth of Saudi Arabia,” without immediately elaborating.

Initial investigations showed the group fired Iranian-made cruise missiles at the desalination plant and state oil firm Aramco's Jizan distribution centre, the coalition said.

It said Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile and nine drones.

The Houthi military spokesman said the group would within hours announce a wide military operation on Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh leads a coalition that has been battling the Houthis for seven years in a conflict widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.