What the Houthis say happened
The Houthi movement, which is aligned with Iran, announced on Tuesday that it had carried out an attack on Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery. According to the group, the facility is the largest of its kind in the kingdom and sits on the Gulf, to the west of the Strait of Hormuz. Yahya Saree, the group's military spokesperson, issued a statement saying that a ballistic missile strike set the site alight.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
No confirmation has come from Saudi officials, who have so far said nothing publicly about the claimed strike. Separately, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, attributing the information to a person with knowledge of the situation, that a fire near the Ras Tanura oil terminal had been brought under control in the early hours of the day. The report did not establish a link between that blaze and the Houthi claim.[S1]
A widening campaign against the kingdom
Since September the Houthis have stepped up their attacks on Saudi territory, according to the account, adding a further unstable front to a broader confrontation involving the United States, Israel and Iran. The group has targeted Saudi installations before, and its statements have often preceded official Saudi responses by hours or days.[S1]
The stakes are tied to geography as much as to the refinery itself. Almost all of the kingdom's crude exports leave through two ports: Ras Tanura on the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea. Both have figured in earlier Houthi attacks, which makes the terminals a recurring pressure point in the group's campaign.[S1]
