Houthi rebels claim attack on Saudi oil facility with new cruise missile

The Iranian-backed Yemeni rebel group Ansar Allah (Houthis) announced on 23 November that it had attacked the Aramco distribution station in the Saudi city of Jeddah using a new Quds-2 cruise missile.

The Quds cruise missile was unveiled by Ansar Allah in July 2019. The US military has referred to it as the 351 land-attack cruise missile. (Ansar Allah)

It said the Quds-2 “recently entered service after successful operational tests in the Saudi rear areas that have not been announced yet” and released satellite imagery showing Aramco’s North Jeddah Bulk Plant was the target.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy confirmed a terrorist attack had caused a fire at petroleum products distribution station in the north of Jeddah early that morning, but said no one was injured and supplies were not affected.

Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Ansar Allah, said it had been proven that Ansar Allah was responsible for the attack.

This was the group’s first confirmed long-range attack on Saudi Arabia since 23 June, when it said it used Zulfiqar ballistic missiles, Quds cruise missiles, and Samad-3 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack the Saudi Ministry of Defence and King Salman Air Base in Riyadh, as well as targets closer to the Yemeni border in the Jizan region.