SANAA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi militia on Friday claimed responsibility for a cross-border attack on a Saudi oil refinery.
"Details of our military attack against Saudi Arabia would be broadcast later in the day," Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea said in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
Late on Thursday, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported that an oil refinery in the Saudi capital Riyadh was attacked in the morning by a bomb-laden drone. The report gave no further details.
The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen has recently intensified cross-border drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates which is part of the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government army. Most of such attacks were reportedly intercepted.
The escalation came after the militia lost several strategic districts in the oil-rich provinces of Shabwa and Marib in central Yemen.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in 2015 to support the Yemeni government. ■
