An administrative building belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in Riyadh was damaged by falling debris following an attempted attack Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said, as the kingdom intercepted missiles launched by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis. No injuries or fatalities were reported.
A Reuters witness saw blown-out windows across several floors of the Aramco Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District. The Energy Ministry described the damage as limited. The incident came after the Saudi-led coalition said its air defenses had intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis toward Riyadh and later destroyed two cruise missiles over Riyadh and the kingdom’s southern region.
Aramco's offices in Riyah
(Photo: Fayez Nureldine / AFP)
Multiple loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital earlier Sunday, shortly after Civil Defense issued an early-warning alert about a potential threat. Authorities later announced that the danger had passed. Aramco did not immediately comment, while the Houthis initially issued no statement on the damage to the tower.
The latest attack comes amid a sharp escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. The group has stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities since hostilities resumed in July, opening another front in the wider Middle East war that followed the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in February. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has carried out airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Alerts in Saudi Arabia’s oil heartland
Earlier Sunday, Civil Defense issued and later lifted warnings across several parts of the oil-rich Eastern Province, including Dhahran, where Saudi Aramco is headquartered. The region contains most of the kingdom’s oil and gas reserves. Aramco’s headquarters suffered extensive damage in a separate attack in October.
Saudi Arabia has faced repeated attacks in recent weeks. An attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on October 10 killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, according to Saudi authorities.
The renewed fighting has shattered a 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely halted hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. Saudi Arabia first led a coalition of Arab states into Yemen in 2015 in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.
Sunday’s escalation came a day after the Houthi-run Health Ministry in Yemen said Saudi airstrikes killed at least 33 people near Sanaa. Saudi authorities said they were investigating the report.