Fire at Saudi Oil Refinery as Iraq Foils Suspected Drone Plot

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said Sunday afternoon that firefighting crews from Aramco — Saudi Arabia’s national oil company and one of the world’s largest energy companies — extinguished a fire that broke out before dawn at one of the company’s facilities at its refinery in Jazan, in the country’s southwest near the border with Yemen. Authorities suspect the Houthis may have been behind the attack.

The refinery that was hit is one of the largest in Saudi Arabia, with a production capacity of roughly 400,000 barrels a day. Last month, it was shut down for several days following another Houthi attack.

Meanwhile, the Al Arabiya network reported that Iraqi security forces arrested a pro-Iranian cell south of Baghdad. According to the report, the cell’s members were preparing to carry out attacks outside Iraq using unmanned aerial vehicles. No targets were disclosed, but Iraqi security officials believe the planned targets were in Saudi Arabia and the Kurdish region.

Iraqi government spokesperson Haider al-Abadi said that members of the counterterrorism service and Iraqi intelligence service managed to "infiltrate and dismantle an armed network that was planning to carry out operations against specific targets." He said the cell members were found with extensive equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles.