The Iran-backed Houthis on Wednesday declared that attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities would continue after claiming responsibility for strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities and King Khalid International Airport. Saudi officials said an Aramco administrative building in Dhahran was attacked late Tuesday.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement that Houthi forces struck Aramco facilities in Dhahran, King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, and that the strikes were precise and caused destruction and fires at the targeted sites.
The statement did not say when the attacks occurred. The Saudi Energy Ministry said in a statement that an administrative building belonging to Aramco in Dhahran, in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, was attacked late Tuesday, causing a limited fire. The ministry reported no injuries or deaths.
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Aramco employees were reportedly instructed to work from home on Wednesday.
Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said in a post on X that forces intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh on Wednesday. Saudi officials have not confirmed the airport or refinery strike claims.
King Khalid International Airport has been closed since Saturday, and Saudi civil aviation authorities have suspended operations there through Oct. 17.
Mr. Saree said the attacks were part of “deterrence operations” against Saudi Arabia following Saudi-led attacks on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which the Houthis have controlled since 2014. He asserted that Saudi forces carried out 2,281 airstrikes during the latest escalation, a figure that could not be independently verified.
Mr. Saree had warned Tuesday that the Houthis would attack Aramco’s headquarters, King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh if Saudi Arabia went ahead with strikes on Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition said Tuesday that its forces had struck oil sites in Sanaa and elsewhere in Yemen that it said supply the Houthi war effort.
The Houthi spokesperson added that attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities will continue in the coming days until what he called Saudi aggression and a “siege” of Yemen end.
Mr. Saree also urged civilians, workers and international shipping companies to evacuate Saudi oil facilities and airports, calling them “legitimate targets.”
The attacks are the latest escalation in Saudi Arabia’s war against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Over the past week, the Houthis have launched a series of strikes against Saudi airports, including at least four on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport.
A Saturday strike there killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.
The most recent escalation in fighting began in July, when the Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, saying it was retaliation for the kingdom’s years-long blockade of Houthi-held areas of Yemen.
Iran, which backs the Houthis, had by then already instituted a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and had launched drone attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure, including the Ras Tanura refinery in March.
Last month, the Houthis took large swaths of territory along Yemen’s western coast, including the Red Sea port city of Mokha and Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Those gains further threaten Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea, which the kingdom has relied on as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. A government offensive that began about a week ago has pushed the Houthis back from the area closest to the strait, AP reported, though they remain embedded nearby.
Prior to the launch of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, the kingdom exported most of its crude oil via the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis’ September gains near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the southern end of the Red Sea, helped push Brent crude to nearly $110 a barrel that month, NPR reported. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, was around $105 on Wednesday, up from $98 on Sept. 30, CBS News reported.
President Trump on Tuesday wrote on Truth Social that the Houthis had “emerged again, probably at the behest of Iran,” and were attacking Saudi Arabia, “purposefully trying to drive up Oil Prices, probably prior to the U.S. Elections.”
“Somebody should explain to them that I’m not running in the Elections; I’ve already won, IN A MASSIVE LANDSLIDE, but I’ll be there after the Elections, and I will never forget!” he added.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, sought military assistance from Mr. Trump in September, according to reports. Washington told Riyadh it was not willing to take direct military action for now but would help with intelligence sharing and targeting.
Saudi Arabia has sought wider support from allies. On Tuesday, when asked whether he was seeking Turkey’s participation in Yemen, Mr. Trump said he “might” ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding that he thinks Mr. Erdogan “would do as I ask.”
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