Houthi attack sparks fire at KSA Aramco facility

MBS rejects Israeli request to join anti-Houthi fight

Powerful explosions rattled the Saudi capital yesterday, hours after a Houthi strike hit a building in the area housing energy giant Aramco’s operations centre, in a fresh escalation of the war between the kingdom and the Yemeni group.

The civil defence agency said four people -- two women, a man and a child -- were wounded by debris from two intercepted Houthi cruise missiles and that 15 homes were damaged.

The Saudi-led coalition meanwhile struck oil sites across western Yemen, with spokesman Turki Al-Malki saying the attacks targeted facilities used to supply the Houthis’ effort to “threaten the kingdom, Yemen, the southern Red Sea and waterways”.

Yesterday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had intercepted a missile fired by the group towards Riyadh. In the city’s downtown, residents have been seen parking their cars to stop and look up at the sky, an AFP journalist said.

Houthis claimed that they had targeted Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran, King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh. Oil prices rose, with international benchmark Brent crude futures for December delivery climbing 0.3pc to $105.97 per barrel from $105.69 at the previous close.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) denied a request by Israel to join the fight against the Houthis in Yemen, Israeli media have reported.

A diplomatic source told Haaretz that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had, through US mediation, offered to help fight the Iran-linked group in part as a means of strengthening ties with the kingdom.

Mohammed bin Salman, however, opposed the move, fearing a backlash among the Saudi public.

The Saudi-led coalition has supported Yemen’s government militarily against the Houthis since 2015 in a long-running civil war that has created a humanitarian crisis.

Many civilians in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, fearing shortages, yesterday rushed to queue in front of fuel stations, an AFP journalist said.

The escalation in violence follows a strike on Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday that left 13 people dead and operations suspended in the worst attack on the kingdom since 2015.

The Saudi cabinet vowed in a meeting led by MBS that it “will not allow its security or freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait to be threatened”.

Many countries have issued travel warnings to their citizens in Saudi Arabia, with France telling its nationals on Tuesday to avoid Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam airports.