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A series of Saudi strikes hit the western Yemeni province of Hodeidah late on July 24, provoking a fierce response from the Houthis (Ansar Allah).
The Saudi strikes hit Telecommunications Corporation facilities in Hodeidah city, according to Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah, which said a worker was injured there. The channel also reported strikes on several other parts of the province, including Kamaran Island, where a woman was wounded.
Amid the strikes, Yemeni air defenses forced several Saudi warplanes to leave the country’s airspace, according to the defense ministry of the Sanaa-based government led by the Houthis.
The Saudi-led coalition claimed responsibility, announcing that it had carried out a proportionate military response against what it called legitimate Houthi military targets in Hodeidah.
In a statement, coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said the operation was launched in response to the Houthis’ “reckless” targeting of commercial vessels in the Red Sea. He said the strikes focused on legitimate military targets linked to threats against maritime shipping and were conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The Houthis said on July 20 that they were imposing a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia in response to its siege on Yemen, and three days later fired on two Saudi oil tankers, setting one ablaze.
Al-Malki noted that Hodeidah Port was not targeted and that all Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Al-Salif, remain open to maritime navigation. He added that the Houthis continue to prevent flights from operating at Sanaa International Airport.
Following the strikes, the Houthis vowed to retaliate against Saudi Arabia, describing what happened as a “dangerous escalation.”
“The Saudi enemy’s targeting of civilian facilities in Hodeidah and Kamaran Island constitutes a dangerous escalation,” the Houthis’ Ansarollah media said in a post on Telegram. “We affirm that these recent crimes will not go unanswered.”
The response came quickly. Early on July 25, a missile and drone attack targeted the Saudi Aramco refinery in the southern Saudi province of Jazan. Thick plumes of smoke rose from the oil refinery, with multiple fire hotspots detected by NASA’s FIRMS satellite monitoring system at the site.
The refinery, built at a cost of roughly $9 billion, has a capacity of about 400,000 barrels per day and forms a central part of the kingdom’s strategy to convert crude oil into higher-value refined products domestically. Aramco has not yet addressed the attack.
Interestingly, Greek security sources told Reuters that an air defense system operated by Greek military personnel in Saudi Arabia intercepted two ballistic missiles launched from Yemen targeting oil refineries in Yanbu in the western province of Medina.
The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the attack on Saudi Arabia in a post on the Ansarollah Telegram channel, promising to provide more details in a statement to be issued later in the day.
The latest exchange of strikes between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis could well lead to the collapse of the fragile ceasefire in Yemen. Tensions have already been growing in the country for several months, and the kingdom’s allies appear increasingly willing to resume fighting.
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world wide fuel shortage by next winter ?
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