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<\/p>\nA drone attack on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh caused a fire that was brought under control, the Saudi energy ministry said in a statement carried by state media.<\/p>\n
The attack happened at 6:05 am Saudi time, the statement said.<\/p>\n
The refinery is operated by state-controlled oil giant Saudi Aramco. The attack did not result in injuries or deaths, and did not disrupt the supply of oil or oil derivatives, the energy ministry said.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Yemen’s Houthi group said they targeted the site with six drones.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Our armed forces carried out at dawn today an operation… with six drones which targeted the Aramco company in the capital of the Saudi enemy, Riyadh,” said Yahya Sarea, a Houthi military spokesman.<\/p>\n
Aramco did not immediately respond to a\u00a0Reuters<\/i>\u00a0request for comment but said it would do so “at the earliest opportunity”.<\/p>\n
The Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up attacks into Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Sarea said operations against Saudi Arabia will continue and escalate as long as Saudi “aggression” against Yemen continues.<\/p>\n
The Saudi energy ministry said this and other attacks had targeted the security and stability of the world’s energy supply, not just Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition which intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against Houthi forces, which ousted the internationally-recognised Yemeni government from power in Sanaa in late 2014.<\/p>\n
Riyadh says it intercepts most of the drones and missiles which the Houthis say they launch at airports, air bases and energy infrastructure, but some do inflict damage.<\/p>\n
On March 7, the coalition said a barrage of drones and missiles had been intercepted en route to targets including an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, the site of a refinery and the world’s biggest offshore oil-loading facility. A residential compound in Dhahran used by Saudi Aramco was also targeted.<\/p>\n
Sarea warned “foreign companies and citizens” to avoid military sites and key infrastructure.<\/p>\n
In renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war, the United Nations and United States have urged the Houthis, who are also pressing an offensive against the government-held city of Marib in Yemen, to turn to negotiations rather then military escalation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A drone attack on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh caused a fire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n