Houthi missile hits Aramco building after Saudi-led coalition strike on Yemen fuel depot

A missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi movement hit a building owned by Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran overnight, after a Saudi-led coalition struck a fuel depot near the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

The Saudi energy ministry said the Houthi attack caused a “limited fire” in an administrative building at Aramco’s headquarters complex.

Saudi authorities reported that several missiles and drones were intercepted elsewhere, and that falling debris injured four people in the capital, Riyadh.

The Houthis said they targeted Aramco and Riyadh’s airport in response to the coalition’s strike on the Yemen Petroleum Company’s al-Sabaha facility on Tuesday.

The Iran-backed group also warned that there would be further attacks in the coming days.

International Monetary Fund director Kristalina Georgieva said the escalating conflict could have “potentially negative spillovers for everybody, everywhere”.

The Saudi cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, vowed on Tuesday that the Houthis would “bear the consequences” of their recent attacks on the kingdom, including a missile strike on Riyadh’s airport on Saturday that killed 13 people.

The Houthis have said they are targeting airports, oil and gas facilities, and military bases in Saudi Arabia in retaliation for deadly Saudi air strikes on territory that they control in western Yemen, including Sanaa.

The Yemen Petroleum Company, which is run by the Houthis, issued a statement that sought to reassure them, saying the facility “does not contain any stock of petroleum products”.

The company also said it had “taken all necessary precautionary measures to address any emergency, ensuring the stability of the supply situation and the continued meeting of citizens’ needs in a normal manner”.

Maliki said the coalition targeted al-Sabaha and other facilities because they were supporting Houthi “terrorist military operations”.

“The militia has used these sites in their entirety to support its war effort by supplying its arsenal of missiles and [drones], which threaten the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the safety of airports, ports, and commercial vessels in the Red Sea,” he added.