Yemen rebels say they’re halting attacks on Saudi Arabia

21/09/2019

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During a trip organized by Saudi information ministry, a cameraman films Aramco’s oil processing facility after the recent Sept. 14 attack in Abqaiq, near Dammam in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. Saudi Arabia allowed journalists access Friday to the site of a missile-and-drone attack on a facility at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry, an assault that disrupted global energy supplies and further raised tensions between the U.S. and Iran.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO (AP) – Yemen’s Houthi rebels said late Friday night that they were halting drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, one week after they claimed responsibility for a strike that crippled a key oil facility in the kingdom.

The U.S. and the Saudis blamed the Sept. 14 attack on Iran, which backs the Houthi rebels fighting a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen. Iran denies any responsibility.

Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthis’ supreme political council, which runs rebel-held areas in Yemen, said the group is waiting for a “positive response” from Saudi Arabia. His comments were carried by the Houthi-run al-Masirah satellite TV.
The announcement could be a first step toward a wider ceasefire in Yemen, but it remained unclear, and there was no immediate response from the Saudi-led coalition.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and sparked what the U.N. describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The recent attacks knocked out more than half of saudi Arabia’s daily crude oil production.

This news has been read 12437 times!

21/09/2019