Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked a pumping station on Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline and an oil facility in Yanbu on its Red Sea coast, amid a sharp escalation in hostilities between the kingdom and the group.
Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Houthis did not specify which day they had carried out the attacks.
The group has been firing ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi airports, ports and oil installations, turning US ally Saudi Arabia into a pressure point in a war that began with the US and Israel attacking Iran in February.
With the conflict in the Middle East disrupting oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh has rerouted about 4 million barrels per day of crude via the East-West Pipeline to Yanbu, equivalent to about 4% of global supply.
The pipeline has spared Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter, from the brunt of the impact of the wartime shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz that has crippled exports from its neighbours.
Separately, the Houthi military spokesperson on Thursday denied that the group had targeted Mecca with two ballistic missiles that Saudi Arabia's civil defence said had been intercepted and destroyed on Wednesday, with debris falling in the Mecca region, including in Sabuhah village.
The Houthis have repeatedly denied targeting Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities, rejecting previous Saudi-led coalition accusations that they had launched drones towards the cities.
(Reuters)
