HOUTHIS LAUNCH NEW “BALLISTIC MISSILE” ON LARGE OIL FACILITY SAUDI ARABIA’S NARJAN

On March 22, the Yemeni Missile Forces, that’s loyal to the Houthis, announced in an official statement that it had tasted a new short range “ballistic missile” named Bader-1. According to the statement, a key oil facility of the Saudi Aramco oil company in the southern province of Najran was successfully targeted with the new “ballistic missile” during the test.

The Yemeni Missile Forces said that Bader-1 is a solid fuel “ballistic missile” with a speed of up to 4,5 Mach and high accuracy. However, the projectile’s images suggest that it is a solid fuel artillery rocket, not a “ballistic” missile.

The Badr-1 is likely a copy of the Iranian Fajr-3 artillery rocket, as both rockets appear to have similar diameter and length. Furthermore, the range of the Fajr-3 is over 43km. This is more than enough to hit Najran province form the Houthis-held areas in northern Yemen.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco denied in an official statement that any of its facilities had been hit by the Houthis. It stressed that all of its facilities across Saudi Arabia are operating as usual. However, the Saudi-led coalition has not commented on the incident yet.

The test of the new missile will likely increase the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia will continue to accuse Iran of smuggling weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.

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