US condemns attacks on Saudi oil heartland

DUBAI: The United States mission in Saudi Arabia condemned drone and missile attacks launched by Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement on Saudi Arabia on Sunday, including at a facility vital to petroleum exports. The mission, in an Arabic-language post on Twitter on Monday, said “the Ansar Allah assaults on civilians and vital infrastructure” demonstrated lack of respect for human life and disregard for peace efforts. The Saudi energy ministry said there were no casualties or loss of property from the attacks. The defence ministry said it intercepted an armed drone coming from the sea prior to hitting its target at an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, a site of a refinery and the world’s biggest offshore oil loading facility. Shrapnel from a ballistic missile fell near a residential compound in Dhahran used by state-controlled Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company, the ministries said. — AFP