A Yemeni child looks on as he waits for the arrival of his relative of Houthi detainees after they were released by Saudi Arabia, outside Sanaa Airport in Sanaa in November. Rebels said Saturday they used drones to strike important targets in Saudi Arabia. File photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE
Yemeni pro-government soldiers ride a vehicle at a position during a ceasefire in the port city of Hodeidah, Yemen in 2019. Rebels said Saturday they used drones to strike important targets in Saudi Arabia. File photo by Najeeb Almahboobi /EPA
A handout photo made available by NASA Worldview shows a satellite image of smoke from fires at two major oil installations in eastern Saudi Arabia in 2019. File photo courtesy of NASA
Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels said they used 14 drones to attack targets in Saudi Arabia including Aramco oil refineries and King Abdullah airport in Jeddah.
Yahya Saree, spokesman for the rebels, said on Twitter that the drones also targeted King Khalid base in Riyadh, Abha International Airport, as well as Abha, Jizan and Najran. Saree did not say what sort of damage the attacks caused.
The Iran-backed rebels carried out the attacks in response to the "escalation of aggression" by Saudi Arabia, he said.
"The armed forces will face escalation with escalation until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted," Saree said.
The Houthi rebels, aligned with the country's Shiite minority, have been waging a long-standing civil war against Yemen's government. In 2014, the rebels took control of Yemen's capital city, Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition has made advances and said it destroyed 13 Houthi military targets in Sanaa, Marib and Saada, reports Bloomberg. The targets included weapons depots, air defense systems and drone communication systems.
The Houthis launched an offensive in February to recapture the Marib, an oil-rich province that is the last stronghold of the U.N.-recognized government in North Yemen, reports Bloomberg.
President Joe Biden said in February that the United States, an ally of Saudi Arabia, would be ending support for military operations in Yemen