Yemen’s Houthis said on Wednesday they had targeted Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran, King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh, as hostilities between the Iran-aligned group and the kingdom worsen.
An administrative building belonging to oil giant Saudi Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran was targeted on Tuesday, causing a limited fire, state news agency SPA reported on Wednesday, citing an energy ministry official. The complex hosts a major operations centre for Aramco, which oversees a vast network of onshore and offshore oil rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals.
A ballistic missile hit the headquarters complex of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, the world’s largest and the backbone of the kingdom’s economy, a company source told Reuters amid an escalating war between Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition.
Authorities responded to the incident and took necessary measures, the energy ministry said in a statement, adding that no injuries or deaths were reported. There was no official comment from Saudi Aramco.
Earlier, six sources told Reuters they had heard loud booms near the complex. The Saudi-led coalition said fragments of a missile it had intercepted and destroyed in Dhahran had fallen on a residential area, without providing further details. Authorities also reported that drones and missiles had been intercepted and destroyed in the capital, Riyadh, and the country’s southern region.
The Houthis said their operations targeting airports and oil facilities would continue in the coming days. The group had earlier threatened a “harsh and painful” response to Saudi-led strikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, with spokesperson Yahya Saree saying targets could include the Saudi Aramco headquarters in Dhahran and an oil refinery in Riyadh. The group has also warned oil workers in Saudi Arabia to stay away from sites that could be targeted.
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For a week, the Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at key Saudi sites in retaliation for the kingdom’s backing of government forces against the group in Yemen’s reignited civil war. Riyadh’s international airport has received four strikes, including one on Saturday that killed 13 people.
Saturday’s ballistic missile strike on Riyadh airport was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia in a decade, with further attacks grounding flights across the country even as it hosts a major energy conference.
The Houthis said their attacks on airports and oil facilities would continue in the coming days, signalling a further escalation in hostilities between the group and Saudi Arabia.