*Flames burn at a facility belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco south of Riyadh
The Yemeni Armed Forces have carried out a military operation against facilities of the Saudi oil giant Aramco in Riyadh, reportedly using ballistic missiles and drones.
The Yemenis said this was in direct retaliation for a fresh wave of Saudi airstrikes and missile attacks on Sana’a and other provinces.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Yemeni Armed Forces said, “the operation successfully achieved its objectives, by the grace of Allah. The strikes were precise and direct, setting fires at the targeted sites.”
The attack on Aramco came after Saudi operations against the Yemeni capital and other areas reached as many as 60 airstrikes and missile attacks in the past 24 hours. The total number of Saudi attacks since the latest escalation against Yemen has now risen to 1,410, the statement said.
“The shedding of Yemeni blood with such criminality and brutality necessitates that the armed forces, along with all the free people of our nation, take all necessary escalatory steps and deterrent measures,” the statement read.
It affirmed that the price for disregarding the blood of the Yemeni people “will be high and exorbitant,” and that continued bloodshed “will cost them dearly.”
The Armed Forces reiterated their commitment to the established equation of “a siege for a siege” and “an escalation for an escalation,” and said operations against Saudi troop buildups would continue until the aggression ceases and the blockade on Yemen is fully lifted.
The retaliatory strike on Aramco infrastructure in Riyadh marks a further deepening of Yemen’s response to the Saudi-led offensive, which has intensified in recent weeks with repeated attacks on civilian areas, infrastructure, and populated districts.
Yemeni officials have consistently described the strikes as a legitimate exercise of the right to self-defense against an aggression and all-out siege that has lasted for years, devastating the country’s economy and civilian population.
Previous Yemeni operations in recent months have targeted Aramco facilities in Jizan, Najran, Abha, and other locations, as well as military sites, in answer to Saudi violations of Yemeni airspace and continued bombardment. Saudi authorities have frequently remained silent or offered limited acknowledgments of fires and disruptions at energy sites following such attacks.
Sana’a has maintained that the only path to de-escalation is an end to the aggression and the lifting of the land, sea, and air blockade imposed on the country. The Armed Forces statement underscored that deterrent measures will persist for as long as Saudi attacks continue.
