SANAA — Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Sunday it had carried out a drone attack on a Saudi Aramco oil facility in Jazan in southwestern Saudi Arabia, while Saudi authorities said a fire at the site had been brought under control.
The Houthis said their forces targeted the facility with drones, according to reports citing the group’s military spokesman. The claim could not immediately be independently verified.
Saudi authorities confirmed that a fire broke out at an Aramco facility in Jazan and was extinguished by emergency crews, according to reports. There was no immediate official confirmation that the fire was caused by a Houthi attack, and no casualties were reported in the available Saudi accounts.
The facility is the Jazan refinery, a major Saudi Aramco complex on the Red Sea coast with a processing capacity of about 400,000 barrels per day.
The latest incident comes amid renewed Houthi attacks involving Saudi-linked energy and maritime targets. The movement has previously claimed strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure, although Saudi authorities have at times disputed or provided different accounts of the damage.
The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government since the group seized control of Sanaa in 2014. Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in Yemen in 2015 at the head of a coalition supporting the government. A truce reached in 2022 significantly reduced cross-border attacks, but tensions have persisted.
The latest claim also follows Houthi attacks and threats involving shipping in the Red Sea and waters near Saudi Arabia. The group has said its operations are linked to the wider regional conflict and has targeted what it describes as Israeli- or allied interests.
Saudi Arabia has not publicly confirmed that the Houthis caused the Jazan fire, leaving the group’s account of the attack unverified. Reports said emergency personnel had extinguished the blaze and that authorities were assessing the situation.
The incident is the latest reported threat to Saudi energy infrastructure after previous attacks on Aramco facilities, including the September 2019 strikes on Abqaiq and Khurais that disrupted a substantial portion of Saudi oil production. Houthis claimed responsibility for those attacks, while Saudi Arabia and the United States blamed Iran, which denied involvement.
As of Monday, there was no confirmed indication of major damage to the Jazan refinery or a disruption to Saudi oil supplies from the latest incident.
