Page 10 - MEOG Week 36 2021

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Houthis claim attacks on Saudi targets

SAUDI ARABIA YEMEN’S Houthi militia claimed responsi- object being brought down just after 9pm local
bility this week for attacks on facilities belong- time.
ing to Saudi Aramco as well as Saudi Arabia’s Providing a video of an object travelling
south-eastern cities of Najraf and Jazan. quickly across the sky before exploding, one
On September 4, Saudi Defence Ministry resident suggested that the target may have
spokesman Brigadier-General Turki al-Maliki been the key administrative office building of Al
said that the Kingdom’s air defences had foiled Midra tower at the north of the camp, just south
the attack, which left no casualties but only of Dammam. The camp is home to the majority
caused minor damage to property in a residen- of Aramco’s expatriate workforce as well as the
tial area near Aramco’s HQ. majority of the company’s main offices.
A ballistic missile was intercepted and Both Ras Tanura and Dhahran are heavily
destroyed above the city of Dammam in Eastern protected, with numerous defence companies
Province, scattering debris which caused minor having been contracted to provide hi-tech solu-
damage to 14 houses, he said in a statement to tions including Patriot missile systems and drone
the Saudi Press Agency. tracking and prevention systems. The locations
Meanwhile, Houthi spokesman Briga- came under fire in March in the largest attack on
dier-General Yahya Sarea said on Twitter that Saudi oil infrastructure since 2019.
they had attacked Aramco facilities at Ras Meanwhile, Jazan is the location of a new
Tanura in Eastern Province – the company’s 400,000 bpd Jazan refinery that came into opera-
most important export terminal – with eight tion in March and is working to reach full capac-
drones and one ballistic missile. He added that ity by mid-2022.
five ballistic missiles and two drones had tar- The facility is only 60 km from the Yemen
geted Jeddah, Jazan and Najran. border and has come under repeated attack from
The port of Ras Tanura is comprised of the the Houthis, with the most recent strike being
Ras Tanura terminal and the Ju’aymah crude and in late July.
LPG export terminals, and is home to 33mn bar- A spate of attacks in 2019 included drone
rels of crude storage and the eponymous refin- strikes on the East-West Pipeline in May then a
ery with a capacity of 550,000 bpd. Total export swarm attack on the Abqaiq and Khurais facil-
capacity from the facilities is around 6.5mn bar- ities in Eastern Province, reducing oil flows by
rels per day (bpd). 5.7mn bpd, and led to an international investiga-
Residents of Aramco’s Dhahran Camp com- tion which suggested that the drones and rockets
pound told NewsBase that they had witnessed an had “probably” been provided by Iran.™

Screenshot of video
taken from Aramco’s
Dhahran Golf Club
showing projectile flying
over company facilities.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 08•September•2021