Saudi Arabia vows to respond after Houthis attack cities and energy facilities

Image source, NASA WORLDVIEW/Handout via REUTERSImage caption, A satellite image showed smoke rising from a Saudi Aramco's bulk plant in Abha on Tuesday.

• Houthis reportedly kill six in first deadly attack since start of Iran warPublished11 August.

Ataques dos Houthis supostamente matam pelo menos 30 forças do governo do Iêmen.

O movimento Houthi, apoiado pelo Irã, do Iêmen, atacou instalações energéticas e outras infraestruturas civis na Arábia Saudita com dezenas de drones e mísseis, ferindo 73 pessoas, segundo autoridades sauditas.

Tuesday's attacks hit four south-western cities, causing fires at oil facilities and installations that led to a temporary halt in operations, according to Saudi Arabia's military and energy ministry.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said that its forces would respond to the "dangerous escalation.

Os Houthis disseram que os ataques foram retaliação por dezenas de recentes ataques sauditas em áreas do noroeste do Iêmen que eles controlam.

On Monday, they accused Saudi Arabia of bombing a prison in the city of al-Hazm and killing at least 11 people. Twenty inmates are reportedly missing under the rubble.

The spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, said the Houthi drone and missile attacks targeted civilian and economic sites in the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, and that women and children were among the injured.

An energy ministry statement cited an official source as saying that injuries were also reported after "several energy sector facilities and installations" were targeted.

Os ataques 'causaram incêndios em vários locais, levando a uma paralisação temporária em algumas operações,' acrescentaram.

Maliki described Houthi attacks as a "dangerous escalation that confirms the hostile and irresponsible approach of this terrorist militia" and said the Saudi-led coalition would "take all necessary operational measures to deter" the group.

O porta‑voz militar dos Houthis, Yahya Sarea, acusou o exército saudita de ter realizado mais de 120 ataques aéreos nas províncias yemenitas de Marib, al‑Bayda, Hudaydah, Taiz e Jawf nos últimos três dias, e de ter cometido “grave crimes”.

A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states has backed Yemen's government against the Houthis in the country's devastating civil war for more than a decade.

A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said they were retaliating for a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom.

Há combates intensos na costa sudoeste do Iêmen desde quinta-feira, quando os Houthis lançaram uma ofensiva contra as forças pró-governo do Iêmen em uma tentativa de tomar o controle do Estreito de Bab al-Mandab, que liga o Mar Vermelho ao Golfo de Aden.

The fighting has reportedly left more than 300 people dead and displaced 18,500.

O Mar Vermelho tornou‑se crucial para os envios de petróleo da Arábia Saudita durante a guerra dos EUA e Israel contra o Irã, o que levou ao fechamento efetivo do Estreito de Hormuz no Golfo.

Em números

• E outras infraestruturas civis na Arábia Saudita com dezenas de drones e mísseis, ferindo 73 pessoas, segundo autoridades sauditas