Saudi’s biggest oil refinery hit with missile, say Yemen’s Houthis

HOUTHI FIGHTERS. Newly recruited Houthi fighters stand during a rally to commemorate the late leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and to show support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, on October 4, 2024.

Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

Intensifying hostilities between Yemen and Saudi Arabia further disrupt oil supplies and heighten the risk of a wider regional conflict, eight months since the Iran war began

AT A GLANCE

• The Houthis claimed to have attacked Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery with a ballistic missile, escalating tensions in the region.
• The attacks included strikes on Saudi military aircraft and an airbase, while Saudi authorities reported intercepting two ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh.
• The ongoing conflict has disrupted oil supplies and undermined a previous UN-brokered truce, with regional powers seeking to reduce tensions.

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DUBAI, UAE – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday, October 27, they had hit Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery, the ⁠biggest in the kingdom, with a ballistic missile.

Intensifying hostilities between Yemen and Saudi Arabia have further disrupted oil supplies and heightened the risk of a wider regional conflict, eight months since the Iran war began.

The Houthis also said they had attacked Saudi military aircraft and repelled an advance by Saudi-backed forces near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an important Red Sea shipping route.

The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the strike on the Ras Tanura refinery had caused a fire at the complex, which also includes a shipping terminal and is located on the Gulf, west of the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the strike.

Ras Tanura, which has a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day, was shut for a period in the early months of the Iran war as a precautionary measure.

Nearly all Saudi Arabia’s oil exports flow through two main ports: Ras Tanura in the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea, both of which the Houthis have attacked in the past.

Bloomberg News cited a person familiar with the matter as saying Saudi Arabia had contained a fire near Ras Tanura’s terminal.

Airstrikes

The ​Houthis said they had attacked two military transport jets at Najran Airport and an airbase in Khamis Mushait. They also said they attacked the Saudi defense ministry building in Riyadh, and Abha airport.

There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the attacks.

On Tuesday afternoon, civil defense authorities briefly issued an air raid alert in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Falling debris from the interception of two ballistic missiles over Riyadh caused material damage to a building, a construction site and a vehicle, the Saudi Civil Defense said later on Tuesday.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in support of Yemen’s internationally recognized government said it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis towards Riyadh.

The Houthis said they had repelled an advance by forces they described as Saudi-backed from the southern approaches to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces earlier this month pushed the Houthis out of coastal areas they had seized in September, loosening the group’s grip on a vital Red Sea oil route.

Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported Saudi strikes on the Yemeni city of Mocha. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation.

The fighting has shattered a 2022 UN-brokered truce between the coalition and the Houthis, who control the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

On Monday, October 26, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran to try to reduce regional tensions.

Parliament in Egypt, which has said it is considering joining the three countries in a mutual defense pact, authorized Egypt’s military on Monday to help defend Saudi Arabia if asked. – Rappler.com