Houthi rebels "attack Saudi capital Riyadh airport, East-West oil pipeline, etc."

(Cairo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Sang-hoon = Yemen's pro-Iran rebels Houthi announced on the 24th (local time) that they had struck Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport and the East-West Crude Oil Pipeline, a key energy infrastructure, in retaliation for Saudi Arabia's large-scale airstrikes.

Yahya Sari, military spokesman for the Houthis, claimed in a statement that day that they had simultaneously attacked seven major military and industrial facilities across mainland Saudi Arabia.

According to the statement, those targeted by Houthi rebels included Riyadh airport, the East-West oil pipeline, state-owned oil company Aramco's facilities in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, the Lavig refinery, King Fahd International Airport in eastern Dammam, Najran Airport in the south, and Hamis Mushait air base.

These airports and oil facilities have been continuously attacked by the Houthi rebels.

At King Khalid International Airport, 13 people were killed in a missile attack by Houthi rebels on the 10th.

International oil prices soared as the East-West Oil Pipeline, a bypass route for Saudi Arabia's oil exports, was shut down last month due to a drone attack believed to have been carried out by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.

Spokesperson Sari said in a statement, "This is a response to Saudi Arabia's brutal aggression, which has carried out more than 100 airstrikes targeting civilian infrastructure in the (Yemeni) capital Sanaa and liberated areas over the past 24 hours, resulting in dozens of martyrs and injuries. Since the worsening of hostilities, Saudi Arabia's airstrikes and missile attacks against our country have reached a total of 3,123 to date."

He then warned, “Our operations will continue deep into Saudi territory, and we will strike Saudi enemy military concentration points by establishing a formula of responding to blockade with blockade and escalation to escalation until the invasion stops and the siege is lifted.”

Saudi authorities did not officially confirm the fact that Riyadh Airport, the East-West oil pipeline, and Yanbu, a Red Sea oil export port, were hit.

However, the Saudi side only announced that it had intercepted two ballistic missiles by the Houthi rebels targeting the highland cities of Taif and Yanbu located in Makkah Province.

Meanwhile, the Houthi rebels claimed that they also struck a naval base and al-Nasr military base under Saudi military control located in Aden, the temporary capital of the Yemeni government recognized by the international community.