Yemeni Houthis claim drone strikes on Saudi oil sites

RFE/RL
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 17:40 UTC

Videos apparently shot in Buqyaq showed smoke rising over the skyline and glowing flames could be seen at the Abqaiq oil-processing facility.

Yemen's Huthi rebels have claimed responsibility for two drone attacks on oil facilities operated by Saudi Aramco earlier on September 14.

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said an oil field in Khurais Province and an oil-processing facility, the world's biggest, in Abqaiq Province, were targeted in the drone strikes.

The attacks sparked fires, which Saudi authorities later said were brought under control.

Several hours after the predawn attacks, Aramco has issued no statement and the authorities have not reported on casualties.

State television said exports were continuing.

Abqaiq is located 60 kilometers southwest of Aramco's Dhahran headquarters. It contains the world's largest oil-processing plant, handling crude from the giant Ghawar field and for export to terminals Ras Tanura -- the world's biggest offshore oil-loading facility -- and Juaymah. It also pumps westwards across the kingdom to Red Sea export terminals.

Khurais, 190 kilometers further southwest, contains the country's second-largest oil field.

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Sunni Muslim countries that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Shi'ite Huthis.

Riyadh has blamed regional rival Shi'ite Iran for previous attacks, which Tehran denies. Riyadh accuses Iran of arming the Huthis, a charge denied by the group and Tehran.

The war has become the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The violence has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine and killed more than 90,000 people since 2015, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, which tracks the conflict.

Since the start of the Saudi-led war, Huthi rebels have been using drones in combat.

The rebels have flown drones into radar range of Saudi Arabia's Patriot missile batteries, according to Conflict Armament Research, disabling them and allowing the Huthis to fire ballistic missiles into the kingdom unchallenged.

UN investigators said the Huthis' new UAV-X drone, found in recent months during the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen, likely has a range of up to 1,500 kilometers.

Comment: Three anonymous sources allegedly told Reuters that the attacks disrupted oil production: "According to one of the sources, the incident impacted almost half of the country's oil production, costing the nation roughly 5 million barrels per day." The Houthi spokesman told Al Masirah TV that 10 drones were deployed in the attacks and even claimed the attacks were made possible thanks to "advance monitoring and cooperation" from people in Saudi Arabia. He continued:

We promise the Saudi regime that our future operations will expand further and be more painful than ever as long as it continues its aggression and siege.

We affirm that our goals bank is expanding day by day and that there is no solution for the Saudi regime except to stop the aggression and siege on our country.

Moon of Alabama comments on the attacks:

But drones may not have been the sole cause of the incident. Last night a Kuwaiti fishermen recorded the noise of a cruise missile or some jet driven manned or unmanned aircraft coming from Iraq. Debris found on the ground in Saudi Arabia seems to be from a Soviet era KH-55 cruise missile or from a Soumar, an Iranian copy of that design. The Houthi have shown cruise missiles, likely from Iran, with a similar design (see below). After an attack on Saudi oil installations in August there were accusations that at least some of the attacks came from Iraq. Iran was accused of having been involved in that attack. While this sounds unlikely it is not inconceivable.

That attack in August was the checkmate move against the Saudi war on Yemen. As we wrote at that time:

Saudi Arabia finally lost the war on Yemen. It has no defenses against the new weapons the Houthis in Yemen acquired. These weapons threaten the Saudis' economic lifelines.

Saudi Arabia has nothing that could stop mass attacks by these drones. It would require hundreds of Russian made Pantsyr-S1 and BUK air defense systems to protect Saudi oil installations. There would still be no guarantee that they could not be overwhelmed.

Good luck to MBS selling off shares in Aramco now.