Houthis claim strike on Saudi energy facility as Yemen fighting intensifies

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have said they attacked an Aramco facility in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with ballistic missiles and drones, as fighting between the Iran-aligned group and Saudi Arabia escalates.

In a statement posted on X on Saturday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had carried out a “military operation with ballistic missiles and drones” that targeted Aramco in Riyadh.

He claimed the strikes were “precise and direct” and “led to fires breaking out” at the site.

Saudi authorities have not reported an attack, nor has Aramco, the state oil giant, commented on the cause of the fire.

A large plume of smoke and fire was seen rising near an Aramco facility in Riyadh on Saturday.

Early on Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said its armed forces carried out 97 “precise targeting operations” against Houthi reinforcements on the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis, using warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers.

Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, the spokesman for Yemen’s internationally recognised government forces, said the attacks targeted “at least 260 Houthi fighters and destroyed or disabled 44 military vehicles”.

Late last month, the Houthis said they had attacked Aramco facilities in Yanbu, a Red Sea port on Saudi Arabia’s west coast.