Yemen’s Houthis vowed on Wednesday to press on with attacks on airports and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. The group also said it had struck the headquarters of oil giant Saudi Aramco, which was hit a day earlier.
The Houthis said they had launched ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at Aramco facilities in the eastern city of Dhahran, at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and at an Aramco refinery in Riyadh. They did not say when the attacks took place.
Damage at Aramco’s Dhahran headquarters
Three people with direct knowledge of the matter said the Dhahran headquarters suffered extensive damage, with a fire spreading across several floors. Two of them said operations had continued normally, with employees working from home, while a fourth said some functions had been moved to global offices.
The Saudi Energy Ministry said Tuesday’s attack caused a limited fire and no injuries or deaths. A company source said a ballistic missile hit the headquarters complex, striking an office tower and damaging its top three floors. The Dhahran complex hosts a major operations centre that oversees a vast network of onshore and offshore oil rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals.
Attacks on Riyadh and closure of its airport
Saudi Arabia has faced widening Houthi strikes over the past week. An attack on Riyadh’s airport on Saturday killed 13 people, the deadliest in the kingdom in a decade, and the airport has now come under attack four times. Authorities have closed it until October 17, and airlines have cancelled flights to Saudi Arabia.
In a broad threat, the Houthis urged international shipping companies, civilians and workers to evacuate airports and oil facilities, which they declared legitimate military targets. The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards Riyadh on Wednesday, and several loud booms were heard in the capital. Saudi authorities had issued an alert for a possible aerial threat earlier in the day before lifting it, a witness said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the booms, and authorities did not immediately comment on their source.
Yemen war and the wider economic toll
The Houthis say they have been retaliating for the kingdom’s backing of Yemeni government forces in a war that restarted last month. The conflict was reignited by the confrontation between the United States and Iran in the Gulf, according to the report.
The escalation has dealt a blow to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious plans to diversify the Saudi economy and reduce its reliance on oil. Saudi Arabia first intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to support the government, after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, fearing rising Iranian influence and chaos on its borders. A truce brokered by the UN in 2022 kept a fragile peace until this year.
