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A ballistic missile struck a Saudi Aramco administrative building in Dhahran, causing limited fire without casualties. The attack came amid escalating Houthi strikes and renewed fighting in Yemen.
Smoke rises from a fire at the Aramco refinery south of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 3, 2026. (REUTERS//File Photo)
A ballistic missile targeted an administrative building belonging to Saudi Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran on Tuesday, causing a limited fire but no casualties, as fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis escalates, Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Wednesday, citing an Energy Ministry official.
The missile hit an office tower in the complex in eastern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night, damaging its top three floors, a company source told Reuters. The source and two other people familiar with the matter said the building had caught fire.
The complex houses a major operations centre for Aramco, the world’s largest oil company and a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s economy. It oversees an extensive network of onshore and offshore oil rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals.
The Saudi-led coalition said fragments from a missile intercepted and destroyed over Dhahran had fallen in a residential area, without providing further details. Authorities also reported intercepting and destroying drones and missiles over Riyadh and the kingdom’s southern region.
SALMAN'S WARNING AS SAUDI ARABIA FACES FRESH ATTACKS
Saudi Arabia’s cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had warned earlier on Tuesday that the Houthis would face consequences for repeated attacks on the kingdom.
The warning came amid a week of Houthi missile and drone strikes on key Saudi targets, including the capital’s airport. A ballistic missile strike on Riyadh airport on Saturday killed 13 people, making it the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in a decade, according to the report. Further attacks grounded flights across the country even as Saudi Arabia hosted a major energy conference.
Before the Dhahran strike, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree had threatened a “harsh and painful” response to Saudi-led attacks on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. He said potential targets included Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran and an oil refinery in Riyadh.
The Houthis have also warned oil workers in Saudi Arabia to stay away from sites they consider potential targets.
HOW THE YEMEN WAR REIGNITED
Saudi Arabia resumed its military campaign in Yemen in support of the internationally recognised government after the Houthis made sudden advances last month, moving down the Red Sea coast towards the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The waterway, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, has become more important to Saudi and global energy shipments since the wider war with Iran began in February. Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the key passage linking the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, has added to the strategic importance of alternative shipping routes.
A government offensive launched a week ago pushed the Houthis away from the area nearest Bab el-Mandeb. However, the group remains entrenched nearby and has made gains around the city of Taiz this month.
The Houthis said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia was attacking Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, urged civilians to stay away from an oil depot on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital.
Houthi-run Al-Masirah television reported that coalition forces had targeted the Yemen Petroleum Company’s Sabah central station, a fuel depot outside Sanaa. The coalition confirmed striking the station and other sites, saying the operation was intended to neutralise the Houthis’ ability to threaten Saudi Arabia, Yemen and international waterways.
Saudi Arabia has been seeking greater support from its allies to sustain its campaign and counter Houthi missile and drone attacks. The United States, Riyadh’s strongest ally and longtime security guarantor, has so far declined Saudi efforts to draw it directly into the conflict against the Houthis.
The renewed fighting is unfolding as a spillover of the wider US-Iran war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
IRAN OFFERS TO MEDIATE BETWEEN RIYADH AND HOUTHIS
Iran has offered to mediate between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday. The foreign ministry reiterated the offer on Monday.
Tehran is a longtime regional rival of Riyadh and backs the Houthis, making the offer significant as Saudi Arabia faces an intensifying campaign of missile and drone attacks.
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With inputs from Reuters
