Following the Attack on Aramco Headquarters, Yemen’s Houthis Promise Additional Attacks on Saudi Airports and Oil Installations

The Houthis of Yemen pledged on Wednesday to continue attacking Saudi Arabian airports and oil infrastructure, one day after a bombing that reportedly seriously damaged Saudi Aramco’s headquarters.

The Houthis threatened to intensify a fight sparked by the US-Iran conflict in the Gulf, claiming that the targeted areas were legitimate targets and characterising their attacks as reprisal for Saudi strikes on Yemen. Over the past week, Saudi Arabia has seen an increase in Houthi attacks. On Saturday, 13 people were killed in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

Three persons with knowledge of the situation told Reuters that the attack on Saudi Aramco’s base in Dhahran on Tuesday nite resulted in a fire that extended across multiple floors. According to the Saudi energy ministry, the strike resulted in a small fire.

According to two of the sources, Aramco’s operations were going on as usual, with staff working from home. A request for comment from Aramco was not immediately answered. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman‘s ambitious efforts to diversify and modernise the Saudi economy and lessen its reliance on oil have been hampered by the intensifying conflict.

The Houthis claim that they have been taking revenge for the kingdom’s support of Yemeni government forces in the conflict that resumed last month. The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis towards Riyadh on Wednesday, and several loud booms were heard in the Saudi capital.

Saudi authorities earlier issued an alert for a possible aerial threat in Riyadh on Wednesday before the warning was lifted, a witness said. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the booms and there was no immediate comment from the authorities on their source. The Saudi government media office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the cause of the booms. In their statement on Wednesday, the Houthis said they had launched ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at the Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran, Riyadh airport and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh.

A significant operations centre for Aramco, which manages an extensive network of pipelines, refineries, export terminals, and onshore and offshore oil rigs, is located in the Dhahran complex. The incident on Saturday was the bloodiest in Saudi Arabia in ten years, and there have been four attacks on Riyadh’s international airport.

Airlines have cancelled flights to Saudi Arabia, and authorities have shuttered the airport until October 17. Saudi Arabia supported the government in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 when the Houthis took control of the country’s capital, Sanaa, out of concern over the growing influence of Iran and the possibility of anarchy on its borders.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned that life-saving assistance had been cut off to the government-held city of Taiz, which was encircled by Houthi fighters earlier this month. “WFP and its partners cannot access more than 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on humanitarian assistance, including more than 200,000 women and children,” WFP said in a statement.