Pakistan strongly condemns Houthi missile attack at Saudi oil facility

Brig. Gen. Yahya Sarea, the spokesman for Yemen's northern Houthi rebels, said in a tweet Monday morning that "with God's help and support, the missile force was able to target the Aramco distribution station". Aramco was distributing products again three hours afterward, the official said.

He warned foreign companies operating in Saudi Arabia "to avoid vital installations" which could be involved in ongoing operations.

Aramco's oil production and export facilities are mostly in Saudi's Eastern Province, more than 1,000 km across the country from Jeddah.

He said the recent attack was a continuation of the Iran-sponsored assaults on Aramco's Abqaiq and Khurais refineries from a year ago, in which rebels allegedly used Iranian-made cruise missiles and bomb-laden drones.

"The strike was very accurate, and ambulances and fire engines rushed to the target", said Sarea, adding that the attack was carried out with a Quds-2 missile.

That facility is just southeast of Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport, an important site that handles incoming Muslim pilgrims en route to nearby Mecca.

Yemen has been locked in conflict since the Huthis took control of the capital Sanaa in 2014 and went on to seize much of the north.

Cross-border attacks by Houthi forces have escalated since late May when a truce prompted by the novel coronavirus pandemic expired. The Saudi-led coalition says it intercepts many attacks, and has responded with air strikes on Houthi-held territory.

An American-backed coalition of regional Sunni powers, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have been fighting the Shiite Houthis since 2015.