Limited Fire Reported in Attack on Saudi Aramco Administrative Building

An administrative building of Saudi Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran was attacked, causing a limited fire, the Energy Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, amid intensified fighting between Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis and the kingdom.

In the incident, authorities responded late Tuesday and took the necessary steps, the ministry said, adding there were no injuries or deaths.

Earlier, a business source informed Reuters that a ballistic missile struck the Aramco headquarters building in Dhahran. The insider said one of the office towers in the complex was hit and the top three floors were destroyed. The building was on fire, the person and two other people familiar with the incident told Reuters.

The complex houses a key operations centre for Aramco, which runs a huge network of oil rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals both on and offshore.

The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at critical Saudi targets for a week now in revenge for the kingdom’s backing of government forces in Yemen’s rekindled civil war. Saudi Arabia’s international airport has been attacked four times, including Saturday’s attack that killed 13 people.

Saturday’s attack on Riyadh airport was the bloodiest of its kind in Saudi Arabia in a decade, with more attacks forcing planes to be grounded around the kingdom.

Six people told Reuters earlier that they heard huge booms around the Aramco complex.

Fragments of a missile intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi-led coalition in Dhahran hit a residential area, it claimed without giving further specifics.

Authorities also said they shot down and destroyed drones and missiles in the capital, Riyadh, and in the country’s southern area.

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