Illustrative image, source: the Houthis media wing
On September 5, the Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced that they had attacked several targets in eastern, western and southern Saudi Arabia as a part of a large-scale operation.
In a statement, Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Yemeni group, said that a total of a 16 missiles and drones were launched in the course of the operation that was codenamed “Deterrent Balance 7”.
According to the spokesman, eight Samad-3 suicide drones and a Zulfiqar ballistic missile targeted vital facilities of oil giant Aramco at Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia’s main oil port on the Persian Gulf, in the Eastern province.
Two Samad-3 suicide drones and five Badir artillery rockets were fired at different facilities of Aramco in the western Saudi province of Makkah as well as in the southern provinces of Jizan and Najran.
The Houthis launched the operation in the late hours of September 4. Several interceptions were reported across Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-led coalition claimed that its air-defense had interpreted three ballistic missiles and three suicide drones. Nevertheless, explosions were reported on the ground in several areas. At least two children were wounded. Moreover, 14 Houses were damaged.
Operation Deterrent Balance 7 is the most recent in a series of large-scale missile and drone attacks by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia.
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Operation Deterrent Balance 1 targeted the Shaybah super-giant oil field in southeast Saudi Arabia on August 17 of 2019.
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Operation Deterrent Balance 2 targeted two strategic oil facilities in the eastern Saudi areas of Buqayq and Khurais on September 14 of 2019.
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Operation Deterrent Balance 3 targeted an oil facility of Aramco as well as “sensitive targets” in the western Saudi city of Yanbu on February 21 of 2020.
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Operation Deterrent Balance 4 targeted the headquarters of the Saudi Defense Ministry, intelligence facilities, King Salman Air Base and other positions in Riyadh as well as in Jizan and Najran on June 23 of 2020.
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Operation Deterrent Balance 5 targeted military sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, as well as in the Kingdom’s southern cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait on February 28 of 2021.
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Operation Deterrent Balance 6 targeted Ras Tanura oil port and an unspecified target in the nearby city of Dammam as well as several targets in both Jizan and ‘Asir on March 7 of 2021.
These large-scale operations inflicted some serious losses on the Saudi military and the Kingdom’s highly-profitable oil sector.
To this day, Saudi Arabia appears to be determined to go with its war on Yemen in spite of the high economic, military and political costs. From their side, the Houthis vowed to launch more large-scale operations until the Kingdom cease its “aggression” and “lift its siege” of Yemen.
This is kind of amazing, the Saudi’s thought this war of aggression was going to a walk in the park. They thought they could mimic their US patron’s, in a war of ME conquest. Six and a half years later, the Houthi’s are routinely shelling inside KSA with rocket artillery, and ranging much deeper into KSA with targeted missiles and drones aimed at infrastructure points. And still bin-Salam Jr has no exit strategy. Because in arrogance he assumed he would never need one. That folks is the reckless and ego driven decision making process of a very poor ‘commander-in-chief’ right there.