Yemen’s Houthis claimed on Wednesday to have carried out a wave of missile and drone strikes against Saudi Aramco’s headquarters area in Dhahran, Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and the Ras Tanura refinery, as Saudi air defences intercepted projectiles over the capital for a second straight night.
Key Takeaways
- Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the operation used ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, and warned that attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities would continue “in the coming days”.
- Saudi Arabia says an Aramco administrative building in Dhahran was struck on Tuesday evening, causing a “limited fire” with no casualties.
- Four people — two women, a man and a child — were wounded in Riyadh by debris from intercepted Houthi cruise missiles, and 15 homes were damaged, the civil defence agency said.
- Donald Trump said the Houthis were behaving “very badly”, likely at Iran’s behest, and that he was considering joining Saudi strikes against the group.
What Saudi Arabia says
A Saudi energy ministry official said an administrative building belonging to Aramco in Dhahran was struck on Tuesday evening, resulting in a “limited fire” but “no casualties or fatalities”. Dhahran, in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, is home to Aramco’s vast headquarters complex.
Two company employees told AFP on condition of anonymity that a tower in the headquarters was hit overnight and that its top floors were destroyed, though AFP said it had not been granted access to the site and could not independently verify the extent of the damage.
In the capital, the civil defence agency said four people were wounded when debris from two intercepted Houthi cruise missiles rained down on residential neighbourhoods late Tuesday. A separate live report on Wednesday afternoon said falling shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile injured another resident and damaged a house and a vehicle.
Residents of Riyadh received phone alerts warning of a “hostile aerial threat” and urging them to take shelter; the alert was lifted minutes later. AFP journalists in the city reported hearing powerful explosions on Wednesday as the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired toward the capital.
The Houthi claim
In a statement posted on X, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group’s forces had conducted a “qualitative military operation” targeting Aramco in Dhahran, King Khalid International Airport and the Ras Tanura refinery. He claimed the strikes were precise, caused destruction and fires, and were carried out in response to what he described as Saudi aggression against Yemen, citing more than 2,200 Saudi airstrikes and missiles.
Saree warned that “operations targeting the Saudi depth will continue in the coming days, striking the Saudi enemy’s airports and oil facilities”, adding that the consequences would be severe. The claim has not been independently verified.
Trump weighs joining the fight
US President Donald Trump said the Houthis were behaving “very badly”, likely at Iran’s behest, and that he was considering joining Saudi strikes against the group. The Houthis responded by warning that they would target American interests if Washington intervened, according to regional reports.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Saudi-led coalition struck oil sites in Sanaa and the western provinces of Dhamar and Saada, saying the targets supplied the Houthi war effort and threatened the kingdom, Yemen and Red Sea shipping lanes.
An escalation a week in the making
The latest exchange follows the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in years on Saturday, when a Houthi strike on Riyadh airport killed at least a dozen people and wounded hundreds, in what the Houthis have described as an expanding campaign against the kingdom.
The fighting is unfolding against the wider backdrop of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which began in late February, and a standoff over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil markets remain on edge: the International Energy Agency has warned that Gulf disruptions could keep diesel supplies tight into 2027.
Reporting by Gulf News, Bloomberg, AFP, the Associated Press and ANI.
