The Saudi-led coalition has urged civilians in Yemen’s capital to evacuate an oil facility ahead of an imminent military operation against Houthi forces.
RIYADH: The Saudi-led coalition signalled an imminent attack on an oil facility in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital on Tuesday, warning civilians in the surrounding area to get out.
After a series of attacks on the kingdom’s airports and oil facilities, it was the first time the coalition battling the Houthis has issued an evacuation order for Yemen’s Sanaa since their war flared up again in July.
The coalition demanded “that civilians evacuate the site of the Yemen Petroleum Company, the al-Sabaha Central Station in Sanaa… for their own safety”, said spokesman Turki al-Maliki on X, referring to a site on the western outskirts of the capital.
The Houthis issued a swift warning that a strike would be met with a “tough and painful response”, telling employees to evacuate Saudi oil giant Aramco facilities and threatening to hit Riyadh’s international airport, which they struck several times in the past week.
An attack there on Saturday left 13 people dead, rocking the world’s top crude oil exporter and deepening the war in Yemen, where it backs the internationally recognised government.
The kingdom was still weathering fresh attacks on Tuesday, with the coalition saying its forces intercepted three drones north of Riyadh.
Many countries have since issued travel warnings to their citizens in Saudi Arabia, most recently France, which told its citizens to avoid the airports in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam on Tuesday.
The Saudi coalition has supported Yemen’s government militarily since 2015, in a long-running civil war against the Houthis that has created a deeply entrenched humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country.
Economic Woes
Traffic in perennially gridlocked Riyadh was noticeably lighter this week, as remote learning for all schools and work-from-home orders for some companies took effect, according to AFP journalists in the capital.
Saudi Arabia faces a major economic contraction this year, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, predicting a regional drop over Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Its GDP is expected to shrink by 3.3 percent, it said in its latest World Economic Outlook report, compiled before the attack on Riyadh’s international airport.
The kingdom was already facing headwinds from Iran’s chokehold on Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and gas, since the start of the Middle East war in February, when the US and Israel attacked Iran.
But the restart in July of Yemen’s frozen civil war, pitting a Saudi-led coalition backing the government against the rival Houthis, has further roiled the kingdom and brought the fight to its own soil.
Houthi attacks have also targeted oil tankers in the Red Sea — Saudi Arabia’s alternative export route.
Blasts resounded over the Saudi capital again late on Monday, with the Saudi coalition saying it had intercepted a Houthi missile and the group announcing it had once again targeted the airport, whose operations remain suspended.
In the evening, mobile phones received a government alert warning of a “hostile aerial threat”, before the announcement of the interception.
On Monday evening, as text messages warning of an attack were sent across the Saudi capital, Human Resources Minister Ahmad bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi remained defiant at an economic forum.
“We’re not going out,” he told the crowd at the Riyadh Economic Forum after looking at his phone. “We are safe. With God’s will. May God turn their plots back against them.”
Houthi warning
The Riyadh airport attack prompted US President Donald Trump to say he was considering joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis, after having reportedly rebuffed previous requests for help from the kingdom.
The Houthis warned the US against intervention, with political bureau member Mohammed Al Bukhaiti telling AFP they would target American interests in the region.
Bukhaiti said the purpose of the campaign against Saudi targets was to send a message to the crown prince “that he can no longer wage aggression against Yemen from a safe position”.
Since the Middle East war began, Tehran has sought to impose its control over the Strait of Hormuz, repeatedly attacking ships that transit without its authorisation.
The US has imposed its own counter-blockade on Iranian ports, and has escorted friendly ships through the waterway in increasing numbers.
Saudi Arabia has used its East-West oil pipeline to bypass the Hormuz strait and send crude to its Red Sea coast.
However, the pipeline was temporarily shut in September after it was hit by strikes blamed on Iran-backed groups in Iraq.