Yemen's Houthi militants struck a building at the headquarters of Saudi Arabia's state oil giant in the eastern city of Dhahran, people familiar with the matter said, as fighting intensified between the kingdom and the Iran-backed group.
The kingdom's Energy Ministry said a Saudi Aramco administrative building had been targeted leading to a limited fire. The building houses the office of the company's chief executive as well as its oil supply planning and scheduling department, and suffered extensive damage after the missile strike caused a fire that spread to multiple floors and led parts of the roof to collapse, the people said. No fatalities or injuries were reported.
Aramco didn't respond to a request for comment.
The strikes on Tuesday follow a series of deadly Houthi attacks on the international airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The attacks, including one Saturday that killed at least 13 people, have hit the country's air links and travel industry in the high season as marquee conferences are rolling out, including the Future Investment Initiative Institute financial conference slated to begin Oct. 26.
The Houthis said they targeted Aramco in Dhahran in retaliation for Saudi attacks on its territory in Yemen. The group said it would continue to target Saudi energy facilities and airports, and warned civilians to stay away.
Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition in Yemen, said Tuesday that four cruise missiles and two drones fired toward Riyadh and southern Saudi Arabia had been intercepted. The ballistic missile strikes launched on Haradh and Dhahran in the Eastern Province had been intercepted. Fragments from an interception over Dhahran, the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, fell into a residential area, he said.
The Saudi-led coalition said earlier Tuesday it targeted the Yemen Petroleum Company's al-Sabaha fuel depot, held by the Houthis.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare'e had warned the group would retaliate against Aramco's headquarters, its refinery in Riyadh and the city's airport if Saudi forces attacked Yemeni oil facilities. He also warned all employees and civilians near Saudi Arabia's oil facilities to evacuate, calling the sites a legitimate target.
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