Houthis Claim Missile Strike on Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura Refinery

Yemen's Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said his forces struck Ras Tanura oil refinery, the largest in Saudi Arabia, with a ballistic missile, reportedly sparking a fire at the complex. The attack adds to a series of strikes by the Iran-aligned militia against Saudi energy infrastructure.

Ras Tanura, located on the Gulf west of the Strait of Hormuz, includes not only the refinery but also a shipping terminal, with a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day. The facility had been shut down during the early months of the war with Iran as a precautionary measure, and together with the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, it handles nearly all of the country's oil exports.

Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the attack. A source cited by Bloomberg News said Saudi Arabia managed to contain a fire reported near the terminal overnight, while NASA satellite sensors (FIRMS) detected heat signatures consistent with a fire at the Ras Tanura export terminal on Tuesday. The extent of the damage remained unclear, and the alleged strike on the refinery was not independently confirmed.

The attack comes amid an intensification of Houthi strikes against Saudi Arabia since September, including attempted strikes on Riyadh's international airport and the strategic East-West pipeline. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh, where civil defense authorities briefly issued an air raid alert. The fighting broke the UN-brokered 2022 truce between the coalition and the Houthis, who control Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, members of the Mecca defense pact, met with Iranian officials in Tehran in an attempt to ease tensions, while Egypt's Parliament authorized its Armed Forces to assist in Saudi Arabia's defense if requested. According to The Maritime Executive, France, the United Kingdom, Egypt and Pakistan pledged varying levels of assistance, while the United States has so far declined Saudi requests for help, as its military deployment in the Strait of Hormuz has depleted much of its stock of interceptor missiles.