- Ballistic missile hits site of major Aramco operations centre.
- Saudi coalition hits oil depot in Yemen, says Houthi media.
- Houthi missile, drone attacks intensify across Saudi Arabia.
An administrative building belonging to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran was attacked, causing a limited fire, the Energy Ministry said on Wednesday, as fighting between Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis and the kingdom intensified.
Authorities responded to the incident late on Tuesday and took the necessary measures, the ministry said, adding that no injuries or deaths had been reported.
A company source told Reuters earlier that a ballistic missile had hit the Aramco headquarters complex in Dhahran.
The source said an office tower in the complex was struck and its top three floors damaged. The source and two other people familiar with the matter said the building was on fire.
The complex houses a major operations centre for Aramco, which oversees a vast network of onshore and offshore oil rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals.
The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at key Saudi sites for a week in retaliation for the kingdom’s support for government forces in Yemen’s reignited civil war.
Riyadh’s international airport has been struck four times, including in an attack 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.
Earlier, six sources told Reuters they had heard loud booms near the Aramco complex.
The Saudi-led coalition said fragments from a missile it had intercepted and destroyed in Dhahran fell in a residential area, without providing further details.
Authorities also reported intercepting and destroying missiles and drones over the capital, Riyadh, and the country’s southern region.
Four people were injured in Riyadh after debris from two Houthi missiles fell following their interception and destruction, Saudi Civil Defence said on Wednesday. The debris caused limited damage to 15 homes in the capital, the Civil Defence spokesperson said. The injured were two women, a man and a child.
The Houthis had threatened a “harsh and painful” response to Saudi-led strikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. Spokesperson Yahya Saree said potential 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.
The Houthis said earlier on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia was attacking Sanaa, while the Saudi-led coalition warned civilians to stay away from an oil depot on the outskirts of the city.
Houthi-run Al-Masirah television reported that the Saudi-led coalition had targeted the Yemen Petroleum Company’s Sabah central station, a fuel depot on the outskirts of Sanaa.
The coalition said in a statement on Tuesday evening that it had attacked the station and other sites in an operation aimed at “neutralising the capabilities of Houthis” to threaten Saudi Arabia, Yemen and international waterways.
The Saudi cabinet, chaired by de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stated on Tuesday, before the attack on Aramco, warning that the Houthis would face consequences for their repeated attacks on the kingdom.
Reignited Yemen war
Saudi Arabia resumed its military campaign in Yemen in support of the internationally recognised government, seeking to reverse the Houthis’ sudden gains last month, when they swept down the Red Sea coast towards the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea, has become a more vital route for Saudi and global energy supplies since the Iran war began in February, when Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean.
A government offensive launched a week ago pushed the Houthis out of the area closest to the strait, but the group remains entrenched nearby and has made gains around the city of Taiz this month.
Saudi Arabia has been seeking broader support from allies for its campaign against the Houthis and help in defending against their missile and drone attacks.
Washington, Saudi Arabia’s strongest ally and longtime security guarantor, has so far rebuffed Riyadh’s efforts to draw it directly into the war against the Houthis.
The Yemen conflict has resumed as a spillover from the wider US-Iran war, which began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
Iran, Saudi Arabia’s longtime regional rival, has offered to mediate between Riyadh and the Houthis, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday, reiterating the offer in statements issued by the ministry on Monday.
