Houthi attacks target Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia as explosions rock Riyadh

Riyadh rocked by Houthi missile strikes, Aramco building in financial district damaged

Multiple loud explosions were heard in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh after the country's Civil Defence issued an early-warning alert over a potential threat.Witnesses as per Reuters reported damage to a building belonging to oil giant Saudi Aramco in the city's financial district amid renewed hostilities with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.A Reuters witness reported hearing several loud booms shortly after the alert was issued. The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed two cruise missiles over Riyadh and the southern region. It also said two Houthi missiles fired towards the capital had been intercepted.Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for a series of missile and drone attacks targeting Saudi oil facilities and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

He said six military operations had been carried out against strategic and military installations across the kingdom using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.According to Saree, the attacks were launched in response to what the group described as Saudi aggression against Yemen."The first operation targeted Khalid International Airport, oil storage tanks, and a distillation tower belonging to Aramco in the Saudi enemy's capital, Riyadh, and, by Allah's grace, successfully achieved its objective," Saree said.

He said the second operation targeted Aramco facilities in Khurais, while the third struck Pumping Station No. 8 in the Dawadmi area.The fourth operation, according to the spokesperson, targeted Saudi military concentrations at a National Guard camp in Najran. The fifth targeted troop positions east of Al-Jawf Governorate in three stages."The sixth operation targeted Saudi enemy troop concentrations east of Raghwah and Madghal districts in Marib Governorate, under the command of Saudi officer Fares Al-Shammari, leaving a large number of dead and wounded among their ranks," he added.Saree claimed that the operations caused several casualties among Saudi military personnel. These claims have not been independently verified.In a separate post on X, the Houthi spokesperson alleged that Saudi Arabia had carried out 105 airstrikes and missile attacks on Yemen over the preceding 24 hours, targeting areas in Sanaa and the governorates of Al-Jawf, Taiz, Amran, Hajjah, Saada, Marib and Lahj."These attacks left dozens of civilians dead and wounded, most of them women and children.

This brings the total number of airstrikes and missile attacks by the Saudi aggressor against our country since the escalation began to 4,369," he said.Threatening further retaliation, Saree said, "We will continue our operations deep inside Saudi territory, imposing the equation of blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation, and targeting Saudi enemy troop concentrations and officers."Meanwhile, Yemen's internationally recognised government has urged Lebanon to take coordinated measures to stop Hezbollah's alleged military assistance to the Houthi militia.Yemen's Foreign Minister Afrah Al-Zouba called for cooperation between the security and intelligence agencies of the two countries to prevent further support for Houthi military operations.The renewed fighting has shattered a United Nations-brokered truce reached in 2022, which had largely halted attacks between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, who control Sanaa. The group has since resumed missile and drone attacks targeting Saudi airports and oil facilities, while Riyadh has carried out airstrikes in Yemen in support of its Yemeni allies.The escalation, linked to the wider US-Iran conflict, has revived the 12-year war in Yemen, which has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and left the Arab world's poorest country deeply fragmented.The International Organization for Migration said in October that more than 200,000 people had been displaced since the latest round of fighting began.