The attacks on Saudi soil with drones and ballistic missiles will stop, the Houthis have vowed, if Saudi Arabia will stop its airstrikes over Yemen, according to Bloomberg, who quoted Yemen Shiite Houthi rebel leader Mahdi al-Mashat, who spoke on Al Masirah TV.
The Iran-backed Houthis have claimed ownership of the devastating attacks that crippled Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure over the weekend that took offline 5.7 million barrels per day-which is half of Saudi Arabia's total oil production--sending oil prices sharply upward.
But the United States has largely disregarded their claim, placing the blame for the weekend attacks on Saudi's oil facilities squarely on Iran. Both Saudi Arabia and the United States claim to have proof that Iran was the perpetrator.
If that is the case, the Houthi vow to stop the attacks is a clever capitalization on the tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Iran and the United States. The Houthis are also asking Saudi Arabia to reopen Sana'a airport, and to lift the blockade on the critical port Hodeidah.
The timing of the Houthi's promise to halt the attacks if Saudi Arabia does follows the Saudi-led coalition's military operation just north of Hodeida, according to Reuters, where they intercepted an unmanned Houthi bomb boat on Thursday, and carried out a strike on military targets.
"These sites are used to carry out attacks and terrorist operations that threaten shipping lines and international trade in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the southern Red Sea," a coalition spokesman said.
The Houthis claimed that yesterday's attacks chided Saudi Arabia for yesterday's attack, saying that it violated the ceasefire agreement that was signed last year in Sweden.
Hezbollah leadership also called on Saudi Arabia and the UAE to cease its Yemen attacks, "because your houses are made of glass," Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday, according to the Associated Press.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Comments
Media morality is totally politics based which is Dishonest and Shameful.
The Saudi war on Yemen is unwinnable. The sooner the Saudis understand this the safer their oil installations would be. Next time, the Houthis could target the Ras Tannura oil-loading terminal on the Gulf, the world’s largest. A successful strike against Ras Tannura could cripple the entire Saudi oil exports and precipitate a global oil crisis with prices rising towards $140 a barrel. The Houthis could also target Saudi oil tankers passing through the Bab el-Mandib Strait knowing full well the damage to Abqaig processing plant has deprived the petroline oil pipeline that transports Saudi oil from East to Yanbu on the Red Sea of any crude oil to transport.
Saudi Arabia is very well advised to end the war in Yemen. This will ensure the security of its oil infrastructure and will also save the Saudi budget more than $70 bn being spent annually on the war.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London