Yemen’s Houthis said on Wednesday, October 14, that they would keep firing at airports and oil installations in Saudi Arabia, a day after a missile struck an office building inside the Dhahran headquarters complex of the state oil giant Saudi Aramco. The group described the sites as legitimate targets and called its attacks retaliation for Saudi strikes on Yemen.
What happened in Dhahran
Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said an Aramco administrative building was targeted on Tuesday night and that the strike caused a limited fire, with no deaths or injuries. People familiar with the matter gave a fuller picture to international news agencies: the missile hit an office tower in the complex and the fire spread across several floors, causing extensive damage. Aramco’s operations were continuing normally, with staff working from home, according to two of those sources. The company did not comment.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Houthis said they had launched ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at Aramco facilities in Dhahran, an Aramco refinery in Riyadh and the capital’s King Khalid International Airport. They also urged international shipping companies, civilians and workers to leave Saudi airports and oil facilities.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had intercepted four cruise missiles and two drones aimed at Riyadh and southern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, as well as ballistic missiles fired at Haradh and Dhahran. Saudi authorities said falling debris in Riyadh injured four people and damaged 15 homes. On Wednesday, the coalition said it shot down another ballistic missile heading for the capital.
Why it matters
The Dhahran complex runs a major operations centre that oversees Aramco’s network of oil fields, pipelines, refineries and export terminals. Brent crude rose 0.9% to $106.60 a barrel on Wednesday, with reports of ships being hit near the Strait of Hormuz adding to supply worries, although the region’s oil exports have so far continued.
India condemned the attacks. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said strikes on civilian infrastructure, including the Aramco headquarters, must stop, and that India stood with the Saudi people and government. Four Indians hurt in the October 10 attack on Riyadh airport are still in intensive care, the ministry said.
We condemn all such attacks on civilian infrastructure and call for them to cease immediately. They are totally unacceptable.
Randhir Jaiswal, MEA spokesperson
How the conflict escalated
Saudi Arabia entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015, months after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely held until last month, when the Houthis pushed down the Red Sea coast towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Riyadh resumed its military campaign. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e had warned that the group would hit Aramco’s headquarters, the Riyadh refinery and the airport if Saudi forces struck Yemeni oil sites; the coalition said it bombed a Houthi-held fuel depot on Tuesday.
Riyadh’s international airport has now been attacked four times. Saturday’s strike killed at least 13 people, the deadliest attack inside the kingdom in a decade.
What happens next
The Riyadh airport is closed until October 17, and several airlines have cancelled flights to Saudi Arabia. The attacks come as the kingdom prepares to host the Future Investment Initiative conference from October 26. Inside Yemen, the Red Cross says hospitals are struggling with a sharp rise in war casualties, and the World Food Programme says it cannot reach more than 6 lakh people in the besieged city of Taiz.
