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Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s Houthis claimed an attack on the financial district of the Saudi capital on Sunday, and eyewitnesses reported damage to a skyscraper belonging to oil giant Aramco.
Saudi authorities acknowledged an “attempted attack” on an Aramco administrative building and said it caused only minor damage and no casualties.
“Aramco tower in KAFD has been targeted, that’s the sure thing,” one eyewitness told AFP, referring to the King Abdullah Financial District.
Two other witnesses also reported seeing damage to the building. One said they saw a projectile hit the tower but could not tell what type it was.
Another said multiple floors appeared damaged, with shattered glass and harm to part of the facade. AFP said it could not confirm the extent of the damage.
In a statement, the Houthis said their armed forces carried out four “qualitative military operations” using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones.
They listed the financial district, Riyadh airport, Aramco oil storage tanks and the eastern city of Abqaiq among the targets.
The Saudi energy ministry said an administrative building belonging to Saudi Aramco in Riyadh was subjected to an attempted attack. It said falling shrapnel caused minor damage and that no injuries or fatalities were reported.
Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki said air defences earlier destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh, while loud explosions were heard in the city.
He later said coalition forces destroyed two ballistic missile launchers in Saada, in northern Yemen, that he said were used in the attack.
The kingdom’s interior ministry has repeatedly warned residents against filming and publishing images of drones, missiles, interceptors and impact sites.
The financial district is one of the most visible symbols of the kingdom’s economic and social reform drive, with glass towers, high-end retail and green spaces.
It hosts some of Saudi Arabia’s largest home-grown companies as well as international firms such as Goldman Sachs. The headquarters of the Public Investment Fund, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, and the Saudi stock exchange are also in the district.
The area includes residential buildings and a large metro station that sees heavy commuter traffic during the morning rush hour.
Targeting it would mark a major escalation by the Houthis, according to the reporting.
Andreas Krieg of London-based risk consultancy MENA analytica told AFP he saw the attack as “an attack on the credibility of Vision 2030,” the kingdom’s economic diversification plan, as much as one on Aramco.
He said it raises the political cost of Saudi Arabia’s Yemen campaign and undermines the argument that Riyadh can restore deterrence through airpower.
In his words, the Houthis are making the kingdom’s economic transformation “hostage to an increasingly unwinnable war.”
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The attack came hours after the education ministry announced a return to in-person schooling in Riyadh, following weeks of remote learning after an earlier wave of strikes.
The Houthis have repeatedly hit Aramco facilities in recent months, including tankers, refineries, storage areas and the company headquarters. A 2022 truce that had paused Yemen’s long-running conflict collapsed in July, after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in Sanaa in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace.
The group later declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities. It also seized Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning campaign. Saudi Arabia has since traded blows with the group, which has struck Saudi airports, energy infrastructure and military sites.
The Iran-backed Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict a year later in support of Yemen’s government.
The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed.
Saudi Arabia has been pressing its allies for help as it comes under daily fire. Multiple Yemeni officials told AFP on Saturday that thousands of Syrian troops are set to deploy to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with some already on the ground.
Iran on Sunday condemned recent Saudi strikes in Yemen, including attacks on a market in Taiz province and the village of Al-Shariyah that reportedly killed dozens of civilians, many of them women and children.
Tehran’s foreign ministry called the strikes a “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law and urged an immediate return to dialogue.
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