Yemeni rebels attacked a Saudi Aramco oil facility setting off a huge firevisible from Jeddah’s Formula One track as part of a wave of attacks onFriday.
“We did several attacks with drones and ballistic missiles,” theIran-backed Huthi rebels said in a statement, including an “Aramcoinstallation in Jeddah (and) vital installations in Riyadh”.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed rebels confirmed the attacklink, which comes ahead of the seventhanniversary of its military intervention in the brutal civil war in Yemenlink.
Smoke billowed near Jeddah’s F1 track as drivers took part in practiceruns, with Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen saying he could smellthe blaze as he drove.
“I can smell burning… is it my car?” the Dutchman asked over team radio.
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The rebels claimed 16 attacks on a number of targets including anelectrical station in Jizan, bordering Yemenlink, which was set ablaze.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened to support Yemenlink internationally recognised governmentin 2015, after the rebels seized the capital Sanaa the previous year. -APP/AFP
