SANAA: Yemen’s Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of launching dozens of strikes on Sanaa on Saturday, while an AFP journalist in Riyadh reported seeing flames and smoke coming from an oil facility on the outskirts of the Saudi capital.
Houthis said they had targeted an Aramco facility in the Saudi capital Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones, saying the attack was in retaliation for Saudi attacks on Yemen’s Sanaa and other provinces.
A large plume of smoke and fire was seen rising in the vicinity of an Aramco facility in Riyadh earlier on Saturday, a witness told Reuters. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities of an attack on an Aramco facility. Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The foes have traded strikes since the Houthis seized all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Mandab strait in a lightning offensive.
Houthi-affiliated channel Al-Masirah TV reported that Saudi aircraft hit Sanaa with 26 strikes, after earlier reporting Saudi strikes against the Yemeni capital, without providing details on the targets or casualties. Two correspondents in Sanaa reported hearing loud explosions and seeing warplanes firing missiles on the city.
The Houthis Al-Masirah channel earlier on Saturday reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in Yemen’s northwestern governorate of Saada, one of the group’s strongholds.
It comes after the Houthis said that Saudi Arabia bombed the Yemeni capital itself on Thursday night for the first time since renewed fighting broke out between the two sides in July.
On Saturday US media outlet Axios reported that US President Donald Trump’s top cabinet members met secretly at the presidential retreat at Camp David to discuss next steps in the Iran war and the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen. Vice President Vance chaired the meeting, the news outlet reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Iraq’s Najaf International Airport will resume flights to and from Iran from Sunday (today), with three evening flights scheduled, Iraq’s state news agency cited the airport as saying on Saturday. Iraq said on Friday a US waiver would allow Iranian airlines to operate up to 40 daily flights to and from Najaf, excluding Mahan Air.
Portuguese prosecutors said on Saturday they had opened a probe into the legality of the centre-right government’s authorisation of the United States’ use of the Lajes Air Base in the Azores during the Iran conflict, following a complaint by an opposition party.
A longstanding agreement with the US allows Washington to use the base without prior authorisation during peacetime, but requires Portugal to give approval once hostilities begin.
Portugal, unlike neighbouring Spain, authorised several US transit flights through the Lajes air base, a decision that drew criticism from left-wing opposition parties and triggered a political debate over Lisbon’s role in operations linked to the conflict with Iran. Portugal’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
A large plume of smoke and fire was seen rising in the vicinity of an Aramco facility in Riyadh on Saturday, a witness told Reuters. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities about the fire. Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fire comes amid escalating hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, who have stepped up attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure.
The Saudi Civil Defense said on Saturday that shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile in Ahad Rafidah governorate in the Asir region injured one person, the Saudi state news agency reported. The missile was fired on Friday by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group, it said.
British counter-terrorism police investigating a suspected plot involving an air base used by the US said on Saturday they had released on bail a dual UK-Iranian national who had been arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.
The 25-year-old man was detained on Thursday over the incident last weekend involving the RAF Fairford base in western England from where US bombers have taken part in raids against targets in Iran. Police confirmed he had now been released, and searches at two properties in London had concluded.
Iran has executed a man detained during protests in January for allegedly firing at police, the judiciary said on Saturday.
The judiciary said Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi fired at least three shots at police on January 8 and was arrested two days later with a handgun in Shahrekord in southwestern Iran.
It accused him of contacting people online to organise “anti-security” activities and seeking payment for a “mission”, without identifying who was purported to be behind it.
President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US would soon fill its strategic petroleum reserves. “We’re going to be filling up very shortly our strategic reserves, for nothing,” Trump said at a rally in Mobile, Alabama. He offered no additional details.
The master of a crude oil tanker has reported being struck by an unknown projectile 4 nautical miles east of Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said early on Saturday. UKMTO said all crew were reported safe and no environmental impact was currently reported.
The International Energy Agency said Saturday that member countries had so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, from 400 million barrels promised in March.
The update came a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the IEA, agreed to immediately release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to ease global energy supply concerns caused by fallout from the US-Iran war.
Iraq’s Oil Tankers Company transported 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude aboard a very large crude carrier (VLCC) through the Strait of Hormuz, its director general said in a statement, describing it as the company’s first such operation in decades.
