Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed on the 16th that they had launched large-scale attacks with ballistic missiles and drones against Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Yanbu and the Khamis Mushait air base in Saudi Arabia.
In an official statement, the Houthis said they had "successfully carried out two high-intensity military operations in response to unjust aggression."
According to the statement, the rebels struck facilities of state-run Saudi Aramco in Yanbu in the first operation, using dozens of ballistic missiles and suicide drones. The group added that the strikes had scored "direct hits, causing large fires and widespread destruction."
Yanbu is a key alternative crude export terminal that Saudi Arabia has linked by an east-west pipeline as a hedge against a possible Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The rebels said they then fired multiple ballistic missiles at the Khamis Mushait air base in a second operation, hitting their targets.
The Houthis framed the attacks as a legitimate exercise of self-defense against airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition. "The criminal Saudi enemies have continued their unjust aggression and harsh blockade against Yemen and our people for 12 years," they said, adding that "this week alone they unleashed more than 450 airstrikes targeting most of Yemen's provinces."
The group also warned of further attacks on Saudi territory. "To defend our country and our people, we will teach the criminal Saudis a lesson they will never forget," the statement said. "We will maintain the formula of meeting blockade with blockade and escalation with escalation, and will continue military operations deep inside Saudi territory until the Saudi aggression stops and the blockade on Yemen is fully lifted."
Separately, the Houthis said the same day that they had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over the northeastern province of Marib, but they provided no photographs, video or other objective evidence to support the claim.
