Drone Attack Sparks Fire at Saudi Refinery as Huthi Rebels Advance on Yemen’s Marib City

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A drone strike sparked a fire at a Riyadh oil refinery Friday, in an attack claimed by Yemen’s Huthi rebels as the Iran-backed insurgents made major advances on the embattled Yemeni city of Marib. The attack at dawn on the refinery is the second major assault this month on Saudi energy installations, highlighting a dangerous escalation of Yemen’s six-year conflict between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Iran-linked Huthis.

“The Riyadh oil refinery was attacked by drones, resulting in a fire that has been brought under control,” the Saudi energy ministry said in a statement, adding that no casualties were reported and oil supplies were not disrupted.

Strongly condemning the “cowardly attack”, the ministry said the drone strikes were not just an assault on the kingdom but the world economy and global energy security. In a statement, the Huthi rebels claimed to have targeted energy giant Aramco in Riyadh on Friday with six drones in response to the “brutal aggression” of the Saudi-backed military coalition in Yemen.

The rebels are stepping up cross-border attacks on the kingdom despite a renewed push by the US administration of President Joe Biden to revive stalled peace talks. The latest assault comes after Saudi Arabia earlier this month said it thwarted a missile and drone attack on Ras Tanura — one of the world’s biggest oil ports — and Aramco facilities in Dhahran city in the kingdom’s east. It reported no casualties or damage.

Friday’s attack coincides with major Huthi advances on Marib city after the rebels took a strategic mountain in clashes that caused dozens of casualties on both sides, according to Yemeni government sources.

The Huthis “took control of Mount Hilan overlooking the city, after fighting which left dozens of dead and wounded on both sides,” one of the sources told AFP. “Marib is in danger,” another source said, adding the loss of the mountain posed “a threat to Marib’s first line of defence”.

Intense battle

Since last month, the rebels have been pushing to seize Marib, the government’s last northern stronghold and the capital of an oil-rich region. The loss of Marib would be a huge blow for the Yemeni government, but would also threaten catastrophe for civilians, including at least one million displaced people sheltering in the region, many in desolate camps in the surrounding desert.

The Huthis had “cut the supply lines of some fronts and are now within firing range of the Al-Mashjab line west of Marib city,” the second source added.

Despite the advance, analysts say the city may not fall to the rebels any time soon, given the overwhelming firepower of the Saudi-led coalition which backs the beleaguered government.

“An imminent fall of Marib remains unlikely,” Maged al-Madhaji of the Sanaa Center think tank told AFP, adding that this was nonetheless “an important advance that puts additional pressure” on government forces.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the conflict in 2015, enforcing a naval and air blockade to prevent the smuggling of weapons to the rebels from Iran — allegations Tehran denies.

The rebels say any ceasefire agreement can only begin after the Saudi-led blockade of Yemen is lifted.

‘Grave risk’

The news of their advance came just hours after the United Nations Security Council condemned the “escalation” of armed clashes around Marib city and warned of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. The fighting “places one million internally displaced persons at grave risk and threatens efforts to secure a political settlement when the international community is increasingly united to end the conflict,” it said.

It “stressed the need for de-escalation by all, including an immediate end to the Huthi escalation in Marib (and) condemned the use of child soldiers in Marib.” Life in the city retains a veneer of normality despite the conflict that rages outside, but there is a sense of dread as the fighting draws nearer.

“We condemn what is happening to the city of Marib. Our children are terrified,” one resident, Umm Ali, told AFP. Another resident, Mohammed Yahya, said the city would “remain steadfast”.

“This is what history told us — that, throughout the ages, Marib has been the thorn that breaks down any enemy that wants any harm to Yemen,” he said. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in Yemen’s long war, which has crippled the economy and healthcare system.

The UN has declared Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

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Russia, Iran Targeted 2020 US Election But Didn’t Compromise Results: Agencies

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Russia and Iran targeted election infrastructure during the 2020 US vote but did not compromise any of the results, the departments of Homeland Security and Justice said Tuesday.

“Broad Russian and Iranian campaigns targeting multiple critical infrastructure sectors did compromise the security of several networks that managed some election functions,” the government agencies said in a joint report.

“But they did not materially affect the integrity of voter data, the ability to vote, the tabulation of votes, or the timely transmission of election results.”

Russian, Iranian and Chinese government-affiliated actors also “materially impacted” the security of networks associated with American political organizations, candidates, and campaigns, the report said.

“Several such actors gathered at least some information they could have released in influence operations, but ultimately we did not see any such materials deployed, modified, or destroyed,” it said.

The report said there was “no evidence that any foreign government-affiliated actor prevented voting, changed votes, or disrupted the ability to tally votes or to transmit election results.”

It specifically shot down a conspiracy theory floated by lawyers for former president Donald Trump’s campaign that a voting tabulation company had links with Venezuela and manipulated election results in favor of his opponent Joe Biden.

The report said the public claims had been investigated and “determined that they are not credible.”

The authors of the report said they looked solely at the impact of foreign government activity on the security and integrity of election infrastructure.

“It did not address the effect of foreign government activity on public perception or the behavior of any voters, nor did it address the impact of non-state foreign actors like cybercriminals,” they said.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the report “highlights the ongoing and persistent efforts by our adversaries to influence our elections.”

“Russia, in particular, has expended real effort, not just in 2020, but also as we all recall in 2016, to influence election results,” Warner said.

“The problem of foreign actors trying to influence the American electorate is not going away and, given the current partisan divides in this country, may find fertile ground in which to grow in the future,” he said. 

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India likely to start full operations at Iran’s Chabahar port by May end – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: India expects to start full-scale operations at Iran‘s Chabahar general cargo port it has built by the end of May, the country’s shipping minister said in a boost for regional trade.
India has been developing a part of the port on Iran’s south-eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman as a way to transport goods to Iran, but also Afghanistan and central Asian countries, and avoiding rival Pakistan.
But US sanctions on Iran slowed down the port’s development and Indian officials are now counting on a thaw in relations between Washington and Tehran under President Joe Biden to move forward with near $500 million of investments.
“I am expecting to visit Iran in April or May for the inauguration of full operations,” Mansukh Mandaviya, India’s ports and shipping minister, told Reuters.
India is developing two terminals at the port including the Shahid Beheshti complex and under an agreement signed with the Iran, it would run the terminal for 10 years.
Mandaviya said the port had already commenced operations in a limited way and the growth potential was evident.
Chabahar port had handled 123 vessels and 1.8 million tonnes of bulk and general cargoes from February 2019 to January 2021, he said.
“This is much higher than our expectations. Imagine the scale of operations and freight saving once it is fully operational,” he said.
Last year amid the pandemic, India used the Chabahar port to send 75,000 tonnes of wheat as humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and 25 tonnes of the pesticide malathion to Iran to deal with a locust invasion.
The second batch of 25 tonnes has recently reached Chabahar.
As part of the agreement with Iran, India would provide six cranes and other equipment worth $85 million to equip and operationailse the Shahid Beheshti terminal.
So far, India has supplied two of these Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) and four others will be delivered over the next few weeks.
“Chabahar Port has emerged as the connecting point for the region to deliver humanitarian assistance during the Covid pandemic,” Mandaviya said.
India also plans to set up an around 600 km railway line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan in Iran close to the Afghan border, at a cost of $1.6 billion to facilitate the movement of goods to Afghanistan.
New Delhi has also proposed inclusion of Chabahar port in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC)- connecting Mumbai with Moscow, the minister said, referring to discussions at a virtual summit on Chabahar port on Thursday.
The INSTC project, proposed by India, Russia and Iran in 2000, and later supported by 10 other central Asian countries, envisions a 7,200 km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail and road for freight transport, aiming to cut carriage costs by about 30% and transit time from 40 days to about 20 days.

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