Houthi-run media reported that the air strikes targeted the Yemen Petroleum Company’s al-Sabaha Central Station, on the western outskirts of Sanaa, as well as its facilities at the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea coast, north of the port city of Hudaydah.
Two civilians were killed and two others were injured in the Ras Isa attack, the Houthi-run health ministry said.
The coalition had earlier issued a rare warning to civilians to evacuate the al-Sabaha fuel depot, saying it was planning a “special operation”.
Queues reportedly formed at petrol stations in Sanaa following the warning, with many residents worried about shortages.
The Yemen Petroleum Company, which is run by the Houthis, issued a statement that sought to reassure them, saying the facility “does not contain any stock of petroleum products”.
The company also said it had “taken all necessary precautionary measures to address any emergency, ensuring the stability of the supply situation and the continued meeting of citizens’ needs in a normal manner”.
Maliki said the coalition targeted al-Sabaha and other facilities because they were supporting Houthi “terrorist military operations”.
“The militia has used these sites in their entirety to support its war effort by supplying its arsenal of missiles and [drones], which threaten the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the safety of airports, ports, and commercial vessels in the Red Sea,” he added.
Houthi-run media also reported on Wednesday that a Saudi air strike in the south-western district of Shamayatayn killed a woman and that artillery fire killed two civilians in the north-western district of Shadaa, near the Saudi border.
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government from Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015, after the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government’s rule.
A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.
The Houthis said they were retaliating for what they call a Saudi blockade of their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom.
The conflict escalated in September after the Houthis seized part of Yemen’s south-western Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint for global shipping. Their advance contributed to a rise in oil prices following six months of war between the US, Israel and Iran.
US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Tuesday the Houthis were “behaving very badly… and purposefully trying to drive up Oil Prices”.
Speaking to reporters, he did not answer a question on whether he had made a decision to help the Saudis retaliate against them, but said he “might” ask Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to intervene.
Last week, pro-government forces said they had regained control of territory overlooking Bab al-Mandab after launching a major counter-offensive with the support of Saudi air strikes.
Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed in Yemen since August. The UN’s human rights office says they include at least 54 civilians, half of them children.
More than 216,000 people have also been displaced across the country, and suspected cholera cases have tripled in three weeks, rising from 217 to 647, according to the UN.
