Houthis claim drone attack on Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Sanaa, Aug 9 (IANS) Yemen’s Houthi group said Sunday that it launched a drone attack on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern city of Jazan, as tensions between the two sides continue to escalate.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement posted on X that the drone struck the refinery in what he described as a “precise” attack.

Saree said the operation was carried out in retaliation for what the Houthis described as Saudi drone incursions into the airspace of Saada and Hajjah, two Houthi-held provinces in northern Yemen along the border with Saudi Arabia, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Houthis did not provide evidence of the attack or details about any possible damage or casualties.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said that industrial security firefighting teams of Saudi Aramco had extinguished a fire at one of the facilities of the Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, with no injuries reported.

The fire broke out early in the day, and relevant authorities are completing the necessary procedures to address the incident, the ministry said on X, without specifying the cause of the fire.

The latest claim comes amid escalating tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.

On July 20, the Houthis announced a maritime ban on Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea, citing an alleged Saudi blockade of Houthi-held areas.

The group has also claimed multiple attacks on Saudi-linked vessels, energy sites and airports, while the Saudi-led coalition has resumed limited airstrikes on key Houthi military targets in Yemen.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized control of much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

–IANS

ksk/vd

Related Posts

Kerala nurse accused of Yemeni citizen’s murder to be executed on July 16

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, July 9 (IANS) Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been convicted of the murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi, is set to be executed on July 16.

Priya has been in a Yemeni prison for the last three years.

According to the negotiator S.J. Bhaskaran, after the news of the execution came on Tuesday, he will leave for Yemen.

Priya’s husband, Tomy Thomas, and their daughter are expecting that they will be able to prevail upon the family of Mehdi to resolve the case by paying the blood money.

So far, Mehdi’s family has not responded positively to the offer of the blood money.

Priya, originally from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, moved to Yemen in 2008 to support her daily wage-earning parents. After working in various hospitals, she opened her own clinic.

However, in 2017, a dispute with her Yemeni business partner, Mehdi, reportedly took a tragic turn.

The family claim Priya injected Mehdi with sedatives to retrieve her confiscated passport. But unfortunately, an overdose led to his death.

Priya was arrested while attempting to leave the country and was convicted of murder in 2018.

In 2020, a trial court in Sanaa sentenced her to death.

The verdict was upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023, but it left open the possibility of avoiding execution through the payment of blood money.

The case has drawn widespread attention and raised concerns over the fate of Indian nationals abroad as the family and supporters continue their efforts to save Priya from the death penalty.

The mother of Priya, Prema Kumari (57), has been tirelessly campaigning to secure a waiver of the death penalty. She has also travelled to Sanaa to negotiate the payment of blood money to the victim’s family.

Her efforts have been supported by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, a group of NRI social workers based in Yemen.

–IANS

sg/dan

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta-led panel changes names of 2 upcoming Metro stations, modifies 7

New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister and Chairperson of the State Names Authority (SNA), Rekha Gupta, has approved the renaming of two upcoming Metro stations and modification of names of seven others, while retaining the originally proposed names of 12 stations, an official statement said on Sunday.

The changes were made after reviewing the names of 21 stations proposed in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), with the aim of ensuring that station names reflect local identity and provide clearer geographical reference to commuters.

According to the statement, the two stations that have been completely renamed are Haiderpur Village (earlier North Pitampura) and Madhuban Chowk (earlier Pitampura). The names were revised to align more closely with the local identity and commonly recognised geographical references of the respective areas.

“Metro stations are not merely points of transit but also reflect the identity and cultural significance of the areas they serve. Therefore, each name was finalised only after careful and considered deliberation,” Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said.

Providing details of the decision, Gupta said that out of the 21 station names proposed in the DPR, the Authority decided to retain 12 names, modify seven, and completely rename two stations after detailed examination.

She said several key factors were taken into account while revising the station names, including the historical, social, and cultural significance of the area, local identity, and recommendations received from public representatives and residents.

The Chief Minister emphasised that the revised names were finalised to avoid confusion among commuters and to ensure that they accurately reflect the geographical identity of the locality.

“Where necessary, composite names incorporating nearby prominent areas have been approved to assist passengers in better navigation,” she said.

The Metro stations whose names have been retained as originally proposed in the project report include Majlis Park, Bhalaswa, Haiderpur Badli Mor, Deepali Chowk, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Khajuri Khas, Soorghat, Jharoda Majra, Burari, Pushpanjali, and Maujpur-Babarpur.

The modified station names include Uttari Pitampura–Prashant Vihar (earlier Prashant Vihar), Jagatpur–Wazirabad (earlier Jagatpur), Nanak Pyau–Derawal Nagar (earlier Derawal Nagar), Khanpur–Vayusainabad (earlier Khanpur), Nanaksar–Sonia Vihar (earlier Sonia Vihar), Shri Ram Mandir Mayur Vihar (earlier Mayur Vihar Pocket–1), and Mangolpur Kalan–West Enclave (earlier West Enclave).

The Chief Minister said the Authority ensured that each station name reflects regional identity and public sentiment, while maintaining consistency with established naming norms.

The State Names Authority took the decision after detailed deliberations and factual examination of each proposal. The Authority will also consider future proposals for name revisions if they are based on public interest and follow prescribed procedures, the statement added.

–IANS

rch/pgh

Calcutta HC rejects Abhishek Banerjee’s plea for fast-track hearing in petition seeking exemption from giving voice samples to CID

Kolkata, July 3 (IANS) A single-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected a plea by Trinamool Congress’ General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, for a fast-track hearing on his petition seeking exemption from providing a voice sample to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police.

The CID seeks to collect Abhishek Banerjee’s voice samples in the case where he is accused of making inciting statements and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a campaign rally before the recently-concluded Assembly polls in the state.

Earlier, on June 30, Calcutta High Court’s single-judge Bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh refused to entertain a plea by Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.

Justice Ghosh also observed that the court could not determine the course and style of investigation that will be carried out by any probe agency.

Since Justice Ghosh recused himself from further hearing in the matter after that order, on Friday, Abhishek Banerjee’s counsel approached another single-judge Bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya and sought a fast-track hearing in the matter.

However, the plea for a fast-track hearing in the matter was turned down by the Bench of Justice Bhattacharyya too, who clearly said that under no circumstance the matter could be heard before July 7.

Meanwhile, after Justice Ghosh refused to entertain the plea for exemption from giving voice samples, a district court in North 24 Parganas in West Bengal on July 1 issued a second notice to Abhishek Banerjee, asking him to appear at the same court by 10 A.M. on July 8 so that the CID officials could collect his voice samples in presence of a Judicial Magistrate and forensic experts.

Now, it remains to be seen whether Justice Bhattacharyya will grant him exemption from giving voice samples at the hearing on July 7, which is just a day before his scheduled appearance at the district court in the matter.

Abhishek Banerjee has been given interim protection from coercive police action including arrest in the matter as directed by Justice Bhattacharyya’s Bench earlier.

However, while granting him the interim protection last month, Justice Bhattacharyya’s Bench also directed the leader to fully cooperate with the investigating agency and directed the CID to inform the court if the Trinamool Congress General Secretary did not extend necessary cooperation in the probe.

–IANS

src/rad