Houthi attack damages Aramco tower in Riyadh as Houthis report 33 dead in Saudi strikes

Strike on Riyadh's financial district

The Saudi energy ministry said an administrative building of Saudi Aramco in Riyadh was the target of an attack attempt on Sunday, 8 November. Falling debris from an intercepted missile hit the structure, causing what the ministry called minor damage. No one was killed or injured, the ministry said. The building lies in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), where witnesses told AFP that the Aramco Tower had been struck. Three witnesses cited by AFP said they saw damage to the structure, and one said the tower had clearly been hit. Footage authenticated by BBC Verify shows broken windows on more than one level and at least one floor that appears badly hit.

What the Houthis claimed

Yahya Sarea, the Houthi military spokesman, said the group had launched four operations using ballistic, cruise and drone missiles. He said the first wave targeted Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, Aramco oil storage tanks and the capital's financial centre, and described the strikes as direct and precise. Sarea also claimed strikes on Aramco facilities in Abqaiq, east of Riyadh, and on Saudi troop concentrations in Al Jawf, Marib and Lahj in Yemen. The statement presented these attacks as a response to coalition bombing that killed 33 civilians east of Sanaa on Saturday. The Saudi-led coalition, through spokesman Turki al Maliki, said it had intercepted and destroyed two cruise missiles and three ballistic missiles over Riyadh and southern regions. The coalition later reported destroying two ballistic missile launchers in Saada that had been used in the attack on Riyadh.

Deadly strikes in Yemen

The Houthi-run health ministry says coalition strikes hit al-Shariyah, a village east of Sanaa, on Saturday, 7 November. Anees Alasbahi, a ministry spokesman, reported 33 dead and 39 injured, and described the figures as near-final. In a post on X he broke down the dead into 12 men, 8 women and 13 children, and the injured into 16 men, 10 women and 13 children.

The Houthi news agency Saba said rescue teams were still digging through rubble and accused aircraft of attacking rescuers in two strikes. Saudi Arabia had not commented on the strike when the reports were published. Every casualty figure here comes from the Houthi side, and the articles offer no independent count.

The wider war

The UN puts the death toll above 1,600 and counts more than 300,000 people forced from their homes since the fighting restarted. The conflict had been largely quiet in recent years, but it flared again after the Iran war began. An informal truce collapsed in July, when the Tehran-backed Houthis declared a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil sites and tankers in the Red Sea. The Houthis describe these attacks as retaliation for what they call a Saudi blockade of their territory and an air strike on Sanaa airport, which Saudi Arabia said was meant to keep an Iranian aircraft from landing. On 3 September the Houthis launched a large-scale offensive in western Yemen, and on 4 October the internationally recognised government forces announced their own large-scale offensive to retake territory and advance toward Sanaa, backed by the coalition.