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10 Yemeni Drones Hit 2 Saudi Oil Refineries, at Abqaiq and Khurais, Air Strikes on Sa'ada, in Retaliation

September 14, 2019

Editor's Note:

As soon as President Trump fired the war hawk, John Bolton, on Tuesday, September 10, 2019, oil prices fell.

Today's Yemeni attack on two Saudi refineries in Abqiq and Khurais is more likely to raise oil pices to their previous level, or maybe higher.          

The Saudi Abqaiq refinery and oilfield attacked by Yemeni Houthi drones, September 14, 2019

 

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The following news stories are from the Yemeni independent website Al-Masdar ( http://www.almasdaronline.com/category/42  ):

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Drone attacks cause fire at two Saudi Aramco facilities, blaze now under control

Al Arabiya English Saturday, 14 September 2019

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior said on Saturday that drone attacks caused fires at two Saudi Aramco facilities, adding that the blazes are under control.

One of the facilities is located in Abqaiq, near Dammam in the Kingdom's Eastern Province. The other facility is located in the Hijrat Khurais oilfield.

“At 4 am on Saturday morning, Aramco’s industrial security teams fought two fires in two of the company’s facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais after they were targeted by drones… the two fires were controlled and contained, and the related authorities have begun investigating,” the ministry said in a statement.

According to an Al Arabiya correspondent reporting from Abqaiq, security officials have been at the scene containing the fires since they broke out at dawn on Saturday.

No residential areas are located near the sites, the correspondent said, adding that there were no casualities so far and that traffic is flowing smoothly in the surrounding area of the Aramco facility in Abqaiq.

Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed responsibility for drone attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil installations in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province on Saturday, the militia’s military spokesman said on Al Masirah TV. The broadcaster said the Houthis had deployed 10 drones against the sites in Abqaiq and Khurais, and the militia pledged to widen the range of its attacks on Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition fighting them in Yemen.

The Iran-backed Houthi militia has also launched several other drones targeting the Kingdom.

On May 14, the Houthis also claimed an attack by explosive-laden drones that targeted Saudi Aramco pipelines in al-Dawadmi.

Later, a report by The Wall Street Journal cited US officials familiar with the intelligence as saying that the attack originated from Iraq, not Yemen. They said that the attack was carried out by Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The Aramco pumping station in Saudi Arabia's al-Dawadmi, which was targeted on May 14, is located around 500 kilometers from the Iraqi border and 800 kilometers from the Yemen border. 

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2019/09/14/Fire-at-Saudi-Aramco-s-facility-in-Abqaiq-under-control-cause-yet-unknown.html  

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The following news stories are from the pro-Houthi website Yemen Extra (http://www.yemenextra.net/):

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Yemeni forces harm Saudi economy with 10 drones

Sepember 14, 2019, YemenExtra, Y.A

Yemen’s armed forces have carried out a large operation using 10 drones targeting two Saudi Aramco factories in Abqaiq and Khurais provinces deep in eastern Saudi Arabia, a spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces said.

Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e confirmed in a statement issued on Saturday that ” targeting Aramco’s factories in Abqaiq and Khurais fields is one of the largest operation in the Saudi Depth and the operation was called ” Second Balance of Deterrence”.

He stressed that operation ” the Second Balance of Deterrence ” came after a thorough intelligence operation, prior monitoring and cooperation, vowing the Saudi regime that our future operations will expand and be more painful as long as its aggression and siege continue.

Activists on social media circulated video footage showing massive fires devouring two main factories in Saudi Aramco facility in the eastern city of Abqaiq, noting that it was a result of drone attacks on Saturday.

Abqaiq, about 60 km (37 miles) southwest of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, contains the world’s largest oil processing plant. Most Saudi oil exported from the Persian Gulf is processed there.

The incident comes nearly a month after Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities in Shaybah, the kingdom’s largest strategic oil reserve near the UAE border, were targeted by Yemeni forces in a major drone attack.

Yemeni forces also launched a successful raid on a major pipeline spanning the kingdom in May.

In March 2015, the US -backed –Saudi-led coalition started  a war against Yemen with the declared aim of crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement, who had taken over from the staunch Riyadh ally and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while also seeking to secure the Saudi border with its southern neighbor. Three years and over 600,000 dead and injured Yemeni people and  prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country, the war has yielded little to that effect.

Despite the coalition claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

https://www.yemenextra.net/2019/09/14/yemeni-forces-harm-saudi-economey-with-10-drones/

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Second Deterrent Balance Operation Hits Abqaiq, Khurais Oil Refineries East of Saudi Arabia

Al-Masirah TV, 2019-09-14

Air Force of the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees, Saturday morning carried out a large-scale operation with 10 drones, targeting Abqaiq and Khurais refineries east of Saudi Arabia. The operation is called the "Second Deterrent Balance Operation".
 
The  Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier Yahya Sare'e in a televised statement confirmed that The air force targeted the Abqaiq and Khurais refineries which are affiliated to Aramco in eastern Saudi Arabia.
 
He confirmed that the operatione hit its target accurately.
 
Armed Forces spokesman pointed out that targeting Abqaiq and Khurais fields comes within the framework of legitimate response to US-Saudi crimes and siege since 2015.
 
Brigadier Yahya Sare'e explained that the operation came after an accurate intelligence operation and honorable cooperation from inside the Kingdom. He added that the operation is one of the largest operations that targeted the Saudi Depth.
 
The Armed Forces spokesman vowed the Saudi regime that our operation will expand and to be more painful as long as its aggression and siege continue, stressing that there is no solution for the Saudi regime but to stop the aggression and siege on our country.
 
The scale of the operation is obviously very large. Images of massive fires and heavy smoke at Aramco's Abqaiq and Khurais oil fields have spread on social media, prompting Saudi authorities to acknowledge the operations.
 
Abqaiq field is an oil field located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and includes the largest oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia, in addition to the largest oil concentration plant in the world. The field has a production capacity of more than 7 million barrels of oil per day.
 
Khurais oil field in Al-Ahsa is an oil field that began pumping oil in 2009, and the volume of reserves were estimated at 27 billion barrels of oil, an average of 1.2 million barrels per day.
 
The Khurais field could also produce 315 million cubic feet per day of high sulfur gas and 70,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=8774&cat_id=1

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Houthi drones hit two Aramco plants, Saudis say fires contained

By Stephen Kalin and Rania El Gamal

RIYADH, Sept 14, 2019 (Reuters) -

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group on Saturday attacked two Saudi Aramco plants, including the world's biggest oil processing facility, sparking fires in the latest flare up of violence in the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia said it had brought the blazes under control, without specifying whether oil production or exports were affected. State television said exports were continuing.

The drone strikes on the world's biggest oil exporter come as state oil giant Saudi Aramco has accelerated plans for an initial public offering to as early as this year, and follow earlier cross-border attacks on Saudi oil installations and on oil tankers in Gulf waters.

Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of Sunni Muslim countries that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis, has blamed regional rival Shi'ite Iran for previous attacks, which Tehran denies. Riyadh accuses Iran of arming the Houthis, a charge denied by the group and Tehran.

The extent of damage from the drone strikes in Abqaiq and Khurais provinces remains unclear. Nine hours after the pre-dawn attacks, Aramco has issued no statement and the authorities have not reported on casualties.

Abqaiq is located 60 km (37 miles) 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 km further southwest, contains the country's second largest oilfield.

Many Western employees of Aramco live in Abqaiq. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh said it was unaware of any injuries to Americans from the attacks.

FIRE AND SMOKE

Hours after the strike in Abqaiq, a Reuters witness nearby said fire and smoke were still visible. Earlier video footage verified by Reuters showed bright flames and thick plumes of smoke rising towards the dark pre-dawn sky. An emergency vehicle is seen rushing towards the site.

The Saudi interior ministry spokesman said Aramco industrial security teams fighting the fires since 0400 (0100 GMT) had managed to control them and stop their spread. He did not identify the source of the drones but said an investigation was underway.

The Houthis' military spokesman, without providing evidence, said the attacks had achieved direct hits on refineries at both sites, which are over 1,000 km from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and pledged a widening of attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-led coalition launched two air strikes on Yemen's northern Saada province, a Houthi stronghold, on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. The Houthi-run al Masirah TV said the warplanes targeted a military camp north of Saada city.

Tensions in the region have escalated in recent months after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of an international nuclear deal and extended economic sanctions on Iran.

The Houthis hit Shaybah oilfield last month and two oil pumping stations in May. Both attacks caused fires but did not disrupt production.

The coalition has responded with air strikes on Houthi targets in Sanaa and other areas held by the group, which controls most large urban centres in Yemen.

The violence is complicating U.N.-led peace efforts to ease tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia to pave the way for political talks to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions to the brink of famine.

The Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen to try to restore the internationally recognised government ousted from power in the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran and say they are fighting a corrupt system.

(Reporting by Stephen Kalin and Rania El Gamal; Additional reporting by Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, Tuqa Khalid in Dubai and Reuters team in Yemen; Editing by Richard Borsuk and Mark Potter)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/houthi-drones-hit-two-aramco-plants-saudis-say-fires-contained/ar-AAHh1zN?ocid=spartanntp

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New Massacre in Yemen, More than 100 Killed by US-Saudi Aggression Airstrikes

Al-Masirah TV, 2019-09-03

US-Saudi aggression air strikes on Sunday struck a college-turned-prison in southwest Yemen's Dhamar, killing more than 100 people, health officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
 
Seven air strikes hit three buildings belonging to Dhamar Community College, where185 people were detained, a spokesperson for the health ministry reported. Many bodies were trapped beneath the rubble, the spokesperson said.
 
"The three buildings were hit and there were 185 prisoners inside them, and all of them were either killed or injured," a source in the Dhamar health office said. "When the Saudis hit a building with an air strike, it is certain that everyone inside it will become a casualty."
 
Some dead bodies and wounded prisoners are still under rubble, the source said, and teams from the health office and aid volunteers are looking for them carefully.
 
"We do not use bulldozers because this will kill the injured ones, but we are looking for them by digging with our hands," he said.
 
He said that in addition to 185 detainees, the prison's guards were among the killed and wounded, and confirmed that more than 100 dead had so far been counted and many survivors were in critical condition.
 
"In the coming hours, the number of dead will exceed 150, as most of the wounded people suffer from critical wounds and they cannot receive proper healthcare in Dhamar or Sanaa," he said.
 
"The destruction of the medical system is another Saudi crime, as injured people cannot receive proper healthcare."
 
Officials from the health ministry and some international NGOs have commonly visited the prison to aid the detainees, the source said, adding that it was known not to be a military site.
 
Franz Rauchenstein, head of delegation for the ICRC in Yemen, confirmed to the AFP news agency the number of dead.
 
"We estimate over 100 people were killed," he said, adding that despite efforts to find survivors beneath the rubble, the chances of finding them "are very low".
In a statement carried on Saudi state television, the coalition claimed that it had launched air strikes on a number of targets in southwest Yemen, destroying a site storing drones and missiles in the city.
 
However, the Dhamar health office source rejected this.
 
"These buildings used to be a college and it was turned into a prison, so both are not a target for the coalition and this is a crime against humanity," he said.
 
Warplanes continued to hover over the area, eyewitnesses said, leading those involved in the rescue operation to fear that they will be victims of a "double-tap" strike, should jets bomb the site again.
 
Lawyer and human right activist Tawfik al-Hamidi, the head of SAM Organisation for Rights and Freedom, said on Twitter: "There is no justification for the coalition to bomb the community college that has been turned into a prison for opponents. The coalition knows, as organisations and activists know, that it is a harsh prison for opponents: politicians, journalists and others. The crime is deliberate, amounting to a war crime."
 
Mohammed al-Boukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah political council, said on Facebook that some of those detained in the college had been on the list of prisoners Yemen's government had wanted freed as part of an agreement between the warring parties brokered by the UN in Stockholm.
 
In a tweet, the International Red Cross said it was providing 200 body bags and enough medical supplies to treat 100 critically wounded people.
 
Enjoying the support of the US and Britain, Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power.
 
Cracks have begun to show in the coalition, particularly between Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates, which have backed militias that have subsequently come to blows in recent months
 
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 91,000 lives over the past four and a half years.
 
The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.
 
Yemeni Army and Popular Committees, meanwhile, have stepped up cross-border missiles and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent months, hitting an airport and a major oil field in the past few weeks alone.
 
The coalition, whose rights record has been decried by international rights groups, said it had taken measures to protect civilians in Dhamar, claiming the assault complied with international law.
 
Source: Middle East Eye

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=8604&cat_id=6

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