SANAA (Dispatches) -- Yemen’s armed forces said Tuesday they targeted an Aramco oil facility in Jizan, southwestern Saudi Arabia, with several drones, describing the operation as a response to repeated violations of Yemeni airspace by Saudi-led coalition aircraft.
Yemen’s official Saba news agency, citing a military source, reported that the drones struck the facility and caused powerful explosions.  
The operation comes amid a broader escalation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, with Yemen’s leadership defending its military campaign as a response to continued attacks, pressure and restrictions against the country.
Yemen’s Council of Ministers said the country remains fully prepared to confront further escalation. The council called for an end to attacks on Yemen, the lifting of the illegal blockade, payment of Yemeni salaries and compensation for wartime losses.
The latest strike also comes as Yemen’s pressure on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export infrastructure increasingly complicates Riyadh’s efforts to maintain oil flows through alternative routes.
Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia has been diverting some crude exports toward the Red Sea and Egypt amid disruption around the Bab el-Mandab Strait. Saudi shipments from the Red Sea have increasingly been conducted with tracking systems disabled, while some tankers have avoided the waterway because of heightened security risks.
Saudi Arabia has sought to compensate for disruptions by using its East-West oil pipeline, which transports crude from the kingdom’s eastern oil fields to Yanbu on the Red Sea. However, alternative routes remain more expensive and operationally constrained.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Japanese refiner Idemitsu has begun sourcing Saudi crude through routes involving the Suez Canal and the Cape of Good Hope because of disruptions around Bab el-Mandab. The longer routes can extend voyages from roughly 20 days to 50–60 days, highlighting the economic consequences of the maritime confrontation.
For Yemen’s resistance, the pressure on Saudi energy infrastructure represents an effort to demonstrate that continued military or economic pressure on Yemen carries consequences beyond the battlefield.
Yemeni officials have described their campaign around an “escalation for escalation” approach, stressing that Saudi Arabia can secure its economic and strategic interests only by ending confrontation and addressing Yemen’s demands.
The Jizan operation therefore marks another stage in a widening struggle in which Yemen is seeking to use its military capabilities and strategic position near the Red Sea to increase pressure on Riyadh and force a political response.