Houthis say they hit the East-West pipeline, Yanbu and Aramco in Riyadh – France calls for more pressure on them

The Houthis claim they struck five targets inside Saudi Arabia on the evening of Thursday, November 12, among them a pumping station of the East-West Pipeline, the Yanbu oil facility and Aramco in Riyadh. The Saudi-led coalition announced the same night that it destroyed two drones, one in the Riyadh area and one in the Eastern Province. On Friday, November 13, France called for more pressure on the Houthis to stop the attacks.

The attacks were announced by the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, in successive messages on the movement’s armed forces’ official Telegram channel, starting at 20:05 local time. In the first he said a drone hit pumping station No. 7 of the East-West Pipeline and a ballistic missile hit the Yanbu oil facility on the Red Sea coast. In the same message he called the Saudi announcement of two missiles destroyed over Mecca a “great slander”; the Houthis had already denied targeting the holy city (see our report on the Saudi air-defence interceptions). A few minutes later they claimed a drone hit a military transport aircraft at Sharurah airport and a ballistic missile scored a “direct hit” on Khamis Mushait air base.

At 20:53 Saree announced a drone attack on Aramco in the capital, and at 23:32 he said his forces hit pumping station No. 7 again with a drone. For all the operations the Houthis say they “achieved their target.” The same day the movement claimed it fired six ballistic missiles at pro-Saudi forces at Haraz camp and Ras al-Arah in Yemen’s Lahij province, and accused the Saudi air force of 98 strikes in 24 hours.

The Saudi account

On Riyadh’s side, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) published at 22:37 a statement by the coalition spokesman, Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, that a Houthi drone was destroyed in the Riyadh area. Twenty-one minutes later he announced the destruction of one more drone in the Eastern Province. The pipeline is now critical for Saudi exports, as Riyadh says it sends about 4 million barrels of crude a day through it to Yanbu. Two days earlier a new attack on the pipeline was recorded in the Medina area (our report).

France calls for pressure

On Friday, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told the press briefing: “Our position is that pressure on the Houthis must be increased, so that they put an end to their unacceptable attacks and provocations, especially against Saudi territory, but not only there.” He was answering a question on whether Paris supports designating the Houthis as a terrorist organisation by the European Union. Saudi Arabia is pressing the EU in that direction, but six European officials told Reuters there are concerns that such a step would undermine a future peace process. France has already begun implementing measures to protect Saudi oil facilities at Yanbu.