Britain lambasts Houthi missile attack on Saudi Aramco oil facility

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the rebels must cease their aggression and work with the UN to achieve peace

The Houthi attack struck a distribution plant. Reuters

Britain has condemned a Houthi missile attack on an Aramco oil plant in Saudi Arabia and urged the Iran-backed rebel group to focus on peace in the region.

With Yemen on the brink of a brutal famine, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Monday's assault was at odds with Houthi claims that they wanted a ceasefire.

The rebels said they fired a missile at the distribution plant in Jeddah on Monday, although Saudi Aramco said domestic fuel supplies were unaffected and operations recommenced three hours after the attack.

No one was hurt in the attack, which struck a storage tank and led to a 40-minute fire.

“I condemn the Houthi attack on Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia,” Mr Raab wrote on Twitter.

“This attack on civilian infrastructure contradicts the Houthis’ claims to want to end the conflict.

“With Yemen at risk of famine, the Houthis must cease their aggression and work with the UN to achieve peace,” he added.

A spokesman at Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy said "an explosion took place as a result of a terrorist attack by a projectile, causing a fire in a fuel tank at the petroleum products distribution terminal, in the north of Jeddah," at 3.50am local time on Monday.

One of 13 tanks at the product storage facility was damaged, a Saudi Aramco spokesman confirmed to The National. The unit distributes 120,000 barrels per day of products domestically.

Oil prices moved following the attack. Brent, the international benchmark for crude, rose 0.91 per cent to $46.48 per barrel at 9.42am UAE time. West Texas Intermediate, the key gauge for US oil, jumped 1 per cent to $43.5 per barrel.

Last week, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that Yemen was in “imminent danger” of the worst famine the world has seen in decades.

Unicef director Henrietta Fore said 12 million children were in need of humanitarian assistance, with the crisis deepened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Yemen is a country beset by violence, pain and suffering. The economy is in a shambles,” she warned on Monday.

“The health system has been on the verge of collapse for years. Countless schools, hospitals, water stations and other crucial public infrastructure have been damaged and destroyed in the fighting.”

* With additional reporting by Jennifer Gnana