World News for Students of English

20-09-2019 07:00

Last Saturday, Houthi rebels launched drone attacks on two major Saudi Arabian oil plants.

The group’s spokesman said that they used 10 drones, and the fires from the attacks were so large that people could see them from space. A Saudi official told state-run media that investigations were ongoing.

Although the fires were under control by the evening, the attacks shut down half of the country’s oil production. One of the targets was the world’s largest oil processing facility, and The Wall Street Journal reported that the drone strikes caused Saudi Arabia to reduce its daily oil production by 5 million barrels a day, which is about 5% of the world’s daily oil production. According to Bloomberg, production expects to be restored within 48 hours.

The Houthis are a Shia Muslim rebel group from Yemen, that Iran backs (which is a Shia Islamic Republic). There has been violence in Yemen for the past four years between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government, which Saudi Arabia backs, as well as other Sunni Arab states.

Difficult words: launch (start).

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