Yemen rebels claim attack on Saudi oil facility in Jiddah

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels said they struck a Saudi oil facility in the port city of Jiddah on Monday with a new cruise missile, just hours after the kingdom finished hosting its virtual Group of 20 leaders summit.

The kingdom did not immediately acknowledge any attack as videos on social media suggested a fire struck a Saudi Arabian Oil Co. facility in Jiddah before dawn.

Brig. Gen. Yehia Sarie, a Houthi military spokesman, tweeted that the rebels fired a new Quds-2 cruise missile at the facility. He posted a satellite image online that matched Aramco's North Jiddah Bulk Plant, where oil products are stored in tanks.

That facility is just southeast of Jiddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport, a major airfield that handles incoming Muslim pilgrims en route to nearby Mecca.

Online videos appeared to show a tank farm similar to the bulk plant on fire, with wailing sirens heard and police cars alongside a highway by the facility. Details of the videos posted predawn Monday matched the general layout of the bulk plant. However, passers-by could not see damage to the tank farm from the highway running beside the facility later Monday morning.

The U.S. Consulate in Jiddah said it wasn't aware of any casualties from the claimed attack. It urged Americans to “review immediate precautions to take in the event of an attack and stay alert in case of additional future attacks.”

Saudi state-run media did not acknowledge the Houthi claim. Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's oil giant that now has a sliver of its worth traded publicly on the stock market, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its stock traded slightly up Monday on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange as crude oil prices remained steady above $40 a barrel.

The claimed...