Houthis Vow More Saudi Strikes After Aramco HQ Attack — SkimNews
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- Houthis vowed on Wednesday to press on with attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities, a day after striking the Saudi Aramco headquarters in Dhahran and causing a fire that spread across several floors, three sources told Reuters
- The Saudi energy ministry called the Aramco fire "limited," while Aramco did not respond to a Reuters request for comment and operations continued with employees working from home
- King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh has been attacked four times, including Saturday's strike that killed 13 people, the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in a decade; the airport is closed until October 17
- The Saudi-led coalition intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis toward Riyadh on Wednesday, with loud booms heard in the Saudi capital and an earlier aerial-threat alert issued and then lifted
- Houthis said they fired ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Aramco's Dhahran HQ, Riyadh airport, and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh, and urged international shipping companies and civilians to evacuate Saudi airports and oil facilities
- The escalation has dealt a blow to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plans to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil, while Saudi Arabia resumed its Yemen campaign after the Houthis swept down the Red Sea coast to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait last month
- The International Committee of the Red Cross said Yemeni hospitals are overwhelmed by rising war casualties, and the UN World Food Programme warned that 600,000 people in Taiz—including more than 200,000 women and children—have lost access to humanitarian assistance after the city was encircled by Houthi fighters
Why it matters: The strikes target the symbolic heart of Saudi Arabia's oil economy—Aramco's Dhahran operations center—and Riyadh's main international airport, directly undermining Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's economic diversification agenda while pulling Saudi forces back into a Yemen war that had been on a fragile 2022 truce until last month. The parallel humanitarian cutoff of 600,000 people in Taiz signals the civilian cost of the renewed campaign is mounting fast.
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