Saudi Aramco building in Riyadh damaged in ‘attempted’ attack

A building belonging to Saudi Aramco in Riyadh has been damaged after an attempted attack, Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said.

The administrative building was damaged by “falling shrapnel” and there were no injuries or fatalities, Saudi state media reported on Sunday, citing a senior source at the ministry.

Several news agencies reported that a tower belonging to the Saudi oil giant in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) of Riyadh was damaged.

The reports came after the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said its air defences had destroyed several ballistic missiles launched by the Iran-aligned armed group towards the kingdom.

Two of the missiles were launched towards Riyadh, while another targeted the kingdom’s Eastern province, Major-General Turki al-Maliki, the coalition’s spokesperson, said in separate posts on X on Sunday.

The coalition also intercepted and destroyed two missiles in the southern region, as well as a drone launched by the Houthis, al-Maliki said.

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), have escalated attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia since a truce in Yemen’s war collapsed in July.

The Iran-aligned group has carried out attacks on the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, the Ras Tanura and Rabigh oil refineries, and other airports and Aramco facilities across the kingdom.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in a Houthi strike on the Riyadh airport on October 10.

Missiles intercepted

The attacks come as fighting intensifies across Yemen between the Houthis and government forces, who launched the Dawn of Yemen operation aimed at retaking Houthi-held territory, including the capital, Sanaa, last month.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry spokesperson, Anees al-Asbahi, said on Saturday that 33 people, including eight women and 13 children, were killed after Saudi-led coalition air attacks on the village of al-Shariyah, near Sanaa.

In a post on X, al-Asbahi said at least 39 others were wounded in the attacks on Saturday, which targeted homes, roads, paramedics and civil defence teams in the village, located in the Bani Hushaish district east of Sanaa.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition on the reported strikes. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the reports.

Media outlets affiliated with the Houthis reported on Sunday that various areas of the Shada border district in Saada province have also been subjected to artillery shelling.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree earlier claimed that the coalition had carried out 105 air strikes and missile attacks over 24 hours targeting Sanaa and seven other governorates, taking the total number of strikes since the escalation began to 4,369.

On Friday, an attack on a market in Taiz province killed 30 people. The Houthis blamed it on Saudi air strikes, while Yemeni government forces accused the Iran-aligned group of firing a ballistic missile at the site.

According to the United Nations, more than 1,600 people have been killed and almost 300,000 displaced since a 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July after the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi ports.

In September, the Houthis seized much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast in a lightning offensive, while government forces launched a campaign to reclaim Houthi-held territory in October.