Houthis hit Aramco building as airstrikes target oil sites in Yemen
After Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on oil facilities in Yemen, the Houthis targeted Saudi Arabia's oil giant. Trump floated asking Turkey's Erdogan for help.
Symbolic image · Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels on Tuesday targeted an Aramco administrative building in Dhahran, according to a Saudi Energy Ministry official quoted by the state news agency SPA. Authorities responded to a fire caused by the attack, and no casualties were reported. Debris from two missiles intercepted over Riyadh injured four people and damaged 15 homes, a civil defence spokesperson said. Earlier, the Saudi-led coalition had ordered civilians to leave a central station of the state oil company in Sanaa, and explosions were heard shortly afterwards. The Houthi-run health ministry said two people were killed in a strike in Hodeidah.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree declared Saudi oil sites a "legitimate target" and urged evacuations, including at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the Houthis had stored missiles and drones at the Sanaa facility, while the oil company said its tanks were empty. Saudi Arabia's cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said the Houthis would face "consequences".
U.S. President Donald Trump said the Houthis were "behaving very badly" and said he might ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to support Saudi Arabia. Erdogan told the crown prince by phone that Ankara would stand by Riyadh, his office said. According to the U.N., at least 46 civilians have been killed in Yemen since August, and more than 200,000 people have been displaced since September.