Saudi energy ministry reports minor damage at Aramco building as Houthis claim six attacks
Yemen Herald News 
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said an attempted attack on an Aramco administrative building in Riyadh caused minor damage, with no casualties reported.
An official source at the ministry said falling shrapnel caused the damage, in a statement reported on Sunday. The source said no injuries or fatalities were reported.
The account followed a claim by the Houthi movement that it had carried out six operations against targets across Saudi Arabia.
Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said on Saturday that the group used ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, The National reported.
Saree said the first operation targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, along with oil storage tanks and a distillation tower belonging to Aramco. He said it had achieved its objective.
He said other operations targeted Aramco facilities in Khurais and Pumping Station No. 8 in the Dawadmi area.
Saree also said the group struck a National Guard camp in Najran, troop positions east of al-Jawf governorate in three stages, and Saudi troop concentrations east of Raghwah and Madghal districts in Marib, according to the news agency ANI.
He said the Marib operation left a large number of dead and wounded. ANI reported that his claims had not been independently verified, and Yemen Herald found no second origin for them.
The two accounts differ on effect. Saree described the Riyadh operation as having met its objective, while the energy ministry’s account describes an attempted attack that caused minor shrapnel damage and no casualties.
The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired toward Riyadh, The National reported. It said later that it had also intercepted and destroyed two cruise missiles targeting Riyadh and the kingdom’s southern region.
Saudi civil defence issued an alert in the Riyadh region shortly before blasts were heard, a Reuters witness told the newspaper. Authorities later said the threat had passed.
Saree said the attacks were a response to what the group described as Saudi aggression against Yemen. He said the group was imposing blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation.
In a separate post on X, Saree said Saudi Arabia had carried out 105 air strikes and missile attacks on Yemen in the preceding 24 hours, in Sanaa, al-Jawf, Taiz, Amran, Hajjah, Saada, Marib and Lahj, according to ANI. He put the total since the escalation began at 4,369. Those figures rest on the Houthi account alone.
A day earlier, Yemen’s Houthi-run health ministry said Saudi air strikes had killed at least 33 people near Sanaa, The National reported. Saudi authorities said they were investigating.
The Houthis have targeted Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities since hostilities resumed in July, the newspaper reported. A United Nations-brokered truce that had largely held since 2022 has broken down.
Al Jazeera reported that the Houthis imposed a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia in July, after the latest round of fighting began.
Yemen’s government launched an offensive it calls Dawn of Yemen on Oct. 4 to retake Houthi-held territory, including the port of Mocha and Mayyun island, Al Jazeera reported. The government said it recovered Mocha and Dhubab district. The Houthis dispute that.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said a missile struck King Khalid International Airport on a Saturday in October, killing 12 people and wounding 309, Al Jazeera reported. The dead included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshis and one national each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan.
The authority said attacks on Abha and Riyadh airports the preceding Tuesday killed three people and wounded 36. It said attacks on King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz airport in Jizan and Najran International Airport wounded three people and caused material damage.
On Sept. 18, coalition forces said they intercepted a suspected Houthi ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh airport, Al Jazeera reported. An explosion was heard near the airport the following day and black smoke rose from a fuel storage area.
Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, the coalition spokesman, said on Oct. 8 that forces intercepted two ballistic missiles heading toward Riyadh and one toward Khamis Mushait, near the Yemeni border.
The Houthis claimed an attack on the Aramco oil refinery at Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast, using missiles and drones, and said it caused a fire. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm it, Al Jazeera reported.
The International Organization for Migration said in October that more than 200,000 people had been displaced since the fighting escalated, up from 76,000 recorded in mid-September.
Col. Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, a spokesman for Yemeni government forces, said at least 1,150 Houthi fighters had been killed in almost 2,000 operations since the counteroffensive began, Al Jazeera reported. The broadcaster said it could not verify the figure.
Qatar’s foreign ministry described earlier attacks on the kingdom as a grave violation of its sovereignty in a post on X. Oman and Egypt also condemned them.
On Oct. 5, Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia agreed to activate deterrence measures under a mutual defence pact and to deploy forces there.
The Houthis have warned airlines to avoid Saudi airspace, saying aircraft in it are targets, with the exception of airspace over Mecca and Medina.
Air India cancelled flights to and from Riyadh in October, and Lufthansa Group airlines suspended flights to the city through Oct. 16, Al Jazeera reported, citing Reuters.
Schools across Riyadh were ordered to switch to remote learning for a week.
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Adel Haddad 
