Houthis confirm attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities

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Sanaa, March 8 (IANS) Yemen's Houthi militia has confirmed attacking Saudi Aramco facilities with eight ballistic missiles and 14 bomb-laden drones, an official of the rebel group said.

"The attack targeted Aramco facilities in Ras al-Tannura port in Dammam region and other targets in the regions of Asir and Jazan," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by the group's al-Masirah TV on Sunday.

He vowed that his group would continue attacking Saudi Arabia as long as the war and blockade continue on Yemen, reports Xinhua news agency.

Last November, the Houthis had claimed of attacking Aramco's distribution station in Jeddah, but it was not officially confirmed by Saudi Arabia.

Earlier on Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition launched a series of airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled military sites in Yemen's capital Sanaa, local residents witnessed.

The strikes hit the 1st Division Camp, Maintenance Camp and the 4th Brigade in downtown Sanaa, as well as the Attan site in the southern part of the capital.

The airstrikes came as a response to the Houthis' intensified cross-border drone and missile attacks on Saudi cities.

The Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported that the Saudi-led coalition forces had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthi militia towards Saudi region of Jazan, as well as 12 explosive-laden drones.

The coalition made no comment on the other alleged Houthi attacks on the Aramco facilities.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized control of several northern Yemeni provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in 2015 to support Hadi's government.

--IANS

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