Iran-backed Houthis have claimed responsibility for a drone attack on a key oil refinery owned by Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco. The military spokesman of the Yemeni terrorist group, Yahya Saree, wrote on the platform X on Sunday that the facility in Jazan had been attacked with a drone.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said a fire had broken out at the refinery and was later extinguished. It gave no cause for the blaze. There were no injuries. The refinery, near the border with Yemen, processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil a day and had already been temporarily shut down in late July after a Houthi attack.
Since the start of the war by the US and Israel in late February, Iran and its allied militias have stepped up their attacks on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The Houthis had already imposed a naval blockade on the kingdom in the Red Sea last month.
The attack came just two days after Saudi Arabia signed a new defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan.
According to Turkish officials, the new defense pact technically corresponds to Article 5 of NATO’s mutual assistance clause. The alliance is not directed against Iran or any other country, but serves the general security of the allies, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the state news agency Anadolu on Saturday. According to the minister, Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is seeking to expand the alliance. Egypt is a possible candidate for membership once certain technical issues are resolved.
The three countries signed the “Mecca Defense Agreement” on Friday after more than two and a half years of negotiations. In a joint statement, they said an armed attack on one of the three countries would be considered an attack on all. In the event of an attack, the allies want to decide in consultations, according to Fidan, in what form they will request support. The founding states also plan to establish a ministerial committee modeled on NATO and a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt had already formed the so-called R4 group in recent months. The four states want to coordinate more closely in the face of regional conflicts such as the US- and Israel-led war against Iran. Fidan also stressed on Saturday that Turkey should participate in an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks. The security of sea lanes is in the interest of the government in Ankara.
Source: www.spiegel.de
