Middle East & North Africa
Riyadh: damage to the Aramco tower from debris after a Houthi attack – the six operations and what the coalition says
The Houthis announced six operations against Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh airport and Aramco sites. The Saudi energy ministry reports limited damage to an Aramco building from debris; the coalition says it intercepted missiles.
Yemen’s Houthis announced on the afternoon of Saturday, November 7 that they launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones in six separate operations against Saudi Arabia. Among the targets they name are Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and Aramco facilities. A few hours later, on the morning of Sunday, November 8, the Saudi-led coalition announced that it had shot down two ballistic missiles heading for the capital.
The announcement by the Houthi armed forces, posted on their Telegram channel, describes the six operations as follows. The first targeted Riyadh airport, oil tanks and an Aramco distillation tower in the city. The second was aimed at Aramco at Khurais and the third at pumping station No. 8 in the Dawadmi area. The other three concerned Saudi forces: the National Guard camp in Najran, army concentrations east of Al-Jawf province, and east of the Raqwan and Madghal areas in Marib province. For all of them the Houthis claim they “hit their target”, and for the last three they say they caused a large number of dead and wounded, claims that have not been confirmed by an independent source.
The movement presents the strikes as retaliation for two Saudi raids. The first hit the Al-Khadra market in the Al-Wazi’iyah area of Taiz on Friday, November 6, where Houthis and the government trade accusations over the at least 20 dead. The second struck homes in the Bani Hashish area of Sanaa province at midday on Saturday. The health ministry of the Houthi administration speaks of 33 dead, mostly women and children, and at least six destroyed houses. The Houthis warn that Riyadh “will pay dearly” for every attack and that they will keep striking “in the depth” of the kingdom, under the doctrine “siege for siege, escalation for escalation.”
The attack left marks on the economic heart of the city. Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry announced on Sunday that an Aramco administrative building in the capital suffered limited damage from debris that fell after the attempted attack, with no dead or wounded. An eyewitness saw broken glass on several floors of the Aramco Tower, one of the tallest skyscrapers in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD). Earlier the same day a series of powerful blasts had been heard in the city, shortly after a Civil Defense warning of a possible threat. In October the Aramco headquarters in Dhahran had suffered extensive damage in another attack.
What the coalition says
The spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition, Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki, made a series of announcements on Sunday morning. Air defences shot down and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched towards Riyadh, another ballistic missile aimed at the Eastern Province and two cruise missiles over the Riyadh area and the Southern Region. Saudi Civil Defense sounded alarms in Riyadh and Najran, but also in Abqaiq, Al-Ahsa and Dammam, and lifted them once the danger had passed.
Exchanges of fire had intensified from Saturday. For their part, the Houthis record 105 Saudi air and missile raids within 24 hours, with F-15 and Typhoon fighters that, they claim, took off from the bases at Khamis Mushait and Taif.
A few days earlier, a Houthi missile headed towards Medina and an alert sounded at the port of Yanbu, where Greece’s Patriot battery is stationed. The renewed war between Riyadh and the Sanaa movement now means daily exchanges of fire, with Aramco facilities and the kingdom’s airports again among the targets.
