Yemen's Houthis say targeted Saudi airport, Aramco facility

SANAA, Yemen: Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Thursday (Aug 20) that they targeted an airport and a facility belonging to state-owned oil giant Aramco in Saudi Arabia's southern Najran region, near the Yemeni border.

The group "successfully carried out two military operations using drones: the first targeted a sensitive Saudi enemy site at Najran Airport, while the second targeted the Aramco facility in Najran", military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on Telegram.

Earlier on Thursday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards had warned that Saudi Arabia would be "unable to contain" the Houthis as the rebels ramp up attacks on the kingdom.

Yemen, embroiled in more than a decade of civil conflict, in July became the latest country to be dragged into the Middle East war as the Houthis upended a 2022 truce with the country's Saudi-backed government.

This week, a Yemeni minister told AFP that the Houthi rebels were plotting to seize land along the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which would allow them to further threaten the vital shipping artery.

Three Houthi military sources, as well as a spokesman for the Yemeni government forces battling them near the waterway, also told AFP the rebels were planning to advance south from their current territory.

Hostilities resumed last month when the Houthis welcomed an Iranian plane in Yemen's capital Sanaa, setting off a spate of tit-for-tat attacks.

They later announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, airports and oil facilities.