Saudi Arabia has announced that they bear “no responsibility” for any shortages in the global supply of oil in the wake of retaliatory airstrikes by Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement on targets deep inside the kingdom.

“[The attacks] result in serious consequences for upstream and downstream sectors, affecting the kingdom’s production capability and its ability to fulfill its commitments, undermining without a doubt, the security and sustainability of energy supplies to global markets,” a statement released by the kingdom’s foreign ministry reads.

“The international community must assume its responsibility to preserve energy supplies,” the Saudi statement added.

The international oil benchmark Brent crude hovered over $112 a barrel in trading Monday, up more than 4 percent for the preceding session. The price remained below a peak of nearly $140 hit earlier this month, but still some $15 a barrel more than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), during the attack on 20 March, Ansarallah forces targeted Al Shuqaiq water desalination plant and Aramco’s Jizan bulk plant.

Other targeted locations were the power transmission station in Dhahran al-Janub, the National Gas and Industrialization Company’s Khamis Mushait gas station, and Aramco’s Liquefied Gas Plant in Yanbu.

The Yemeni army has said these attacks are part of the second phase of Operation Breaking the Siege, and come in retaliation for Saudi Arabia’s illegitimate sea and air blockade around Yemen which has pushed millions to the brink of famine.

3-The armed forces renew their warning to the Saudi enemy that they have already begun to launch concentrated strikes according to the bank of targets for breaking the siege, as they promised in the previous statement.

— Yahya Sare'e (@Yahya_Saree) March 20, 2022

Saudi warships also continuously seize UN-authorized ships carrying fuel and goods for the war-torn nation. The illegal practice by Riyadh is responsible for the worst fuel crisis in Yemen since the start of the war.

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has been waging a brutal war on the Arab world’s poorest country with the support of most NATO member-states.

The UN has estimated that the war on Yemen killed 377,000 people by the end of 2021, both directly and indirectly through violence, hunger, and disease.