Houthis vow more attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities after claiming they targeted Aramco

Houthis vow more attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities after claiming they targeted Aramco.

Key points

• Plenty of countries have issued travel warnings to their citizens in Saudi Arabia, with France telling its nationals on Tuesday to avoid Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam airports.
• The coalition has backed Yemen's administration militarily against the Houthis since 2015 in a long-running civil war that has created a humanitarian crisis.
• The latest escalation follows a strike on Riyadh's international airport on Saturday that left 13 individuals dead in the worst attack on the kingdom since 2015.
• While a breaking news alert on the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV channel stated "Saudi aggression" targeted an oil firm, an AFP correspondent in Sanaa documented an explosion.
• Houthi attacks have additionally targeted oil tankers in the Red Sea – Saudi Arabia's alternative export route.

Houthis vow more attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities after claiming they targeted Aramco. AFP Published October 14, 2026 Updated October 14, 2026 08: 19pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel.

After Saudi office-holders documented a strike on a building in an area in Riyadh housing the energy giant's operations centre, yemen's Houthi rebels remarked on Wednesday they had targeted facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco.

As the coalition fighting the Houthis remarked it had intercepted a missile fired by the group towards Riyadh, powerful explosions meanwhile rattled the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude oil exporter, has in recent days come under sustained attack in a dramatic escalation in the war with the Houthis.

It has hit back with strikes against the group's stronghold in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. It for years has been under their grip.

Yahya Saree, Houthi military spokesman, remarked their forces had conducted "a high-quality military operation targeting Aramco in Dhahran" as well as strikes targeting Riyadh airport and a refinery in the capital.

"This was carried out using a large number of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, " he remarked, adding that "operations toward Saudi depths will continue in the coming days, targeting Saudi enemy airports and oil facilities".

Earlier, a Saudi energy ministry official remarked a building belonging to Aramco in Dhahran was struck, resulting in a "limited fire" but "no casualties or fatalities".

Dhahran is home to Aramco's headquarters, a vast complex comprising numerous buildings and residential compounds. 'We heard an explosion'.

As messages were received on phones warning of an "aerial threat" and urging residents to take shelter, more blasts were heard on Wednesday, AFP journalists in Riyadh documented. The alert was lifted a few minutes afterwards.

Most strikes on Saudi Arabia have targeted infrastructure on the outskirts of the capital, but the barrages appear to be getting closer to the city centre.

In the city's downtown, residents have been seen parking their cars to stop and look up at the sky, an AFP journalist remarked.

On Tuesday night, the white plumes of air defence missiles could be seen streaking throughout the sky followed by explosions.

While walking down a major avenue, a witness informed AFP he "saw a projectile cutting across the sky" above a mall, saying it left "a yellowish trail of light followed by a trail of smoke. Then, we heard an explosion".

"Individuals were calm; no one was speaking. We were scared and all looking up at the sky, " he continued, requesting anonymity.

For context, the Saudi-led coalition meanwhile struck oil sites throughout western Yemen, with spokesman Turki Al-Malki claiming that the attacks targeted facilities employed to supply the Houthis' effort to "threaten the kingdom, Yemen, the southern Red Sea and waterways".

In practice, the coalition has backed Yemen's administration militarily against the Houthis since 2015 in a long-running civil war that has created a humanitarian crisis.

Plenty of civilians in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, fearing shortages, have rushed to queue in front of fuel stations, an AFP journalist stated.

In practice, the latest escalation follows a strike on Riyadh's international airport on Saturday that left 13 individuals dead in the worst attack on the kingdom since 2015.

Notably, the Saudi cabinet vowed in a session led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that it "will not allow its security or freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab strait to be threatened".

Traffic in perennially gridlocked Riyadh was noticeably lighter this week as remote learning for all schools and work-from-home orders for some firms took effect, according to AFP journalists.

Saudi Arabia faces a major economic contraction this year, with GDP projected to shrink 3.3 per cent, the International Monetary Fund stated on Tuesday, predicting a regional drop over Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

When the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the kingdom was already facing headwinds from Iran's chokehold on Hormuz since the start of the Middle East war in February.

But the restart in July of Yemen's frozen war has further roiled the kingdom and brought the fight to its own soil.

For now, houthis vow more attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities after claiming they remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.