Houthi Missile Debris Wounds Four in Riyadh as Aramco Building Hit in Saudi Arabia

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Four people were wounded and 15 homes damaged in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, after debris from intercepted Houthi cruise missiles fell on residential areas, while an administrative building belonging to oil giant Aramco was struck in the kingdom’s eastern city of Dhahran, Saudi authorities said Wednesday.

A Saudi energy ministry official said the Aramco building was hit on Tuesday evening, triggering a “limited fire” but causing no casualties or fatalities.

Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense agency said the four people injured in Riyadh included two women, a man, and a child. The injuries and property damage occurred after two Houthi cruise missiles were intercepted over the capital, according to the agency.

The incidents came hours after the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis announced that it had intercepted several missiles on Tuesday evening, including projectiles over Riyadh, as hostilities between the two sides intensified.

Earlier on Tuesday, the coalition launched strikes against oil facilities in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the western provinces of Dhamar and Saada, saying the targets were being used to support the Houthis’ military operations.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on X that the facilities were involved in supplying the Houthis’ war effort and enabling attacks that threatened Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the southern Red Sea, and regional waterways.

The strikes followed a series of Houthi attacks against Saudi airports and energy infrastructure, including a deadly assault on Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday that killed 13 people and forced the suspension of operations, marking the deadliest attack on Saudi soil since 2015, according to the provided report.

An explosion was heard in Riyadh on Tuesday evening after residents received a phone alert warning that the city was facing a hostile aerial threat.

A witness speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) described seeing a projectile cross the sky above a shopping mall, leaving a yellowish trail followed by smoke before an explosion was heard.

“People were calm; no one was speaking. We were scared and all looking up at the sky,” the witness said, requesting anonymity.

Saudi Coalition Escalates Strikes in Yemen

The Saudi-led coalition issued its first evacuation warning for parts of Sanaa since the conflict escalated in July, before striking a Yemen Petroleum Company facility on the outskirts of the Houthi-controlled capital.

An AFP correspondent reported an explosion in Sanaa, while the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television channel described the attack as “Saudi aggression.”

The coalition’s strikes came amid renewed Houthi threats against key Saudi infrastructure. The group had warned that it would target Riyadh’s international airport, an oil refinery, and an Aramco facility in Dammam if the coalition proceeded with its planned attacks, urging civilians to stay away from those locations.

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, vowed that the kingdom would not allow its security or freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait to be threatened.

The renewed fighting has also prompted international travel warnings. France recently advised its citizens to avoid Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam airports amid the deteriorating security situation.

The Saudi-led coalition has supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthis since 2015, in a protracted conflict that has caused widespread displacement and a severe humanitarian crisis.

Escalation Deepens Saudi Arabia’s Economic Pressures

The security crisis is unfolding as Saudi Arabia faces mounting economic challenges linked to the wider Middle East conflict and disruptions to regional energy exports.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product would contract by 3.3 percent this year, amid the regional economic fallout from Iran’s restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz.

The kingdom has faced pressure since the wider Middle East war began in February, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran. The subsequent disruption to shipping through Hormuz has compounded the risks to energy markets and regional trade.

The resumption of fighting in Yemen in July has added another security threat, bringing attacks directly onto Saudi territory. Houthi strikes against oil tankers in the Red Sea have also threatened the kingdom’s alternative route for exporting crude when passage through the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted.

The security measures have affected daily life in Riyadh. Traffic was noticeably lighter this week as schools shifted to remote learning and some companies introduced work-from-home arrangements, according to AFP journalists.

Meanwhile, renewed fighting is worsening Yemen’s already fragile humanitarian situation. The World Health Organization said Tuesday that suspected cholera cases had tripled in three weeks, warning that the rising disease burden was placing additional pressure on hospitals already treating casualties from the conflict.

Trump Warns Houthis as Group Threatens US Interests

The attack on Riyadh’s international airport has also raised the prospect of greater US involvement in the conflict.

US President Donald Trump said he was considering joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump accused the group of “behaving very badly” and suggested it was acting at Iran’s direction.

“I’ll be there after the elections, and I will never forget!” Trump wrote, referring to next month’s US midterm elections.

The Houthis warned Washington against intervening. Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the group’s political bureau, told AFP that the movement would target American interests across the region if the United States became involved.

Al-Bukhaiti said the campaign against Saudi targets was intended to send a message to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he could no longer conduct military operations against Yemen from a position of safety.

The exchanges underscore the growing risk that the renewed Yemen conflict could expand beyond Saudi-Houthi hostilities, further threatening regional energy infrastructure, commercial shipping, and the security of international forces and interests across the Middle East.