ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani prime minister’s special assistant on the Middle East condemned on Friday evening a drone attack that targeted an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia’s capital earlier in the day.
A drone struck the refinery in Riyadh on Friday morning, igniting a blaze at the facility. No casualties were reported, and the Saudi Press Agency said the attack did not disrupt oil supplies.
While Saudi authorities did not immediately identify the attackers, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain blamed Iran-backed Houthi rebels, whom Saudi-led coalition forces have been battling in neighboring Yemen for the past six years. The group has been firing missiles and drones toward Saudi cities and oil facilities, most of which have been intercepted by authorities.
In a series of tweets in Arabic, the Pakistani prime minister’s aide, Tahir Ashrafi, expressed “strong condemnation of the brutal Houthi drone attack targeting an oil refinery in the Saudi capital.” He also said it was necessary to “confront the militant group to prevent its terrorist crimes.”
أعلن معالي الشيخ طاهر محمود أشرفي الممثل الخاصلرئيس الوزراء للوئام والشرق الأوسط رئيس مجلس علماء باكستان إستنكاره الشديد للهجوم العدواني الحوثي الغاشم بالطائرات المسيرة إستهدفت مصفاة تكرير البترول في العاصمة السعودية الرياض ، ونؤكد ضرورة التصدي لهذه العصابة ومنع جرائمها الإرهابية
— TahirMahmoodAshrafi حافظ محمد طاهراشرفى (@TahirAshrafi) March 19, 2021
Friday’s attack came after Saudi Arabia’s largest crude oil refinery in a major oil port and a Saudi Aramco residential area were attacked with a drone and ballistic missile in Eastern Region earlier this month.
The Pakistani government has many times called for an immediate stop to the attacks, which it says not only violate the kingdom’s territorial integrity, but also threaten the lives of civilians.
