An attempted attack damaged a Saudi Aramco administrative building in Riyadh on Sunday, 8 November, officials said, causing minor shrapnel damage and no casualties.
In the north of the capital, the King Abdullah Financial District is a cluster of towers. Several floors of the district’s Aramco Tower, one of its tallest buildings, had blown-out windows, a Reuters witness reported. Verified footage shared on social media showed broken glass along the facade.
"An administrative building belonging to Saudi Aramco in Riyadh was subjected to an attempted attack"
Shrapnel caused minor damage, the ministry said, with no injuries or fatalities reported. It described the impact as limited.
The damage was in the financial district, not at a desert oilfield, as the city edged back towards its routine. Late on Saturday, the education ministry announced that in-person schooling would return to Riyadh after weeks of remote learning following an earlier wave of strikes, and the financial district itself had been closed for remote work for almost a month.
"Aramco tower in KAFD has been targeted, that's the sure thing,"
Two other witnesses told AFP they saw damage to the building, including shattered glass, damage to part of the facade and what appeared to be impacts on multiple floors. One also saw a projectile hit the tower but could not identify its type.
Air defences fired on two missiles
Loud booms echoed across the city soon after Saudi Civil Defense sent an early warning about a possible threat. The authority later said the danger had passed, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed two missiles fired towards Riyadh by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis.
Warnings were issued and later lifted in several areas of the Eastern Province, including Dhahran, the location of Aramco's headquarters.
"air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi terrorist militia towards Riyadh"
Its spokesman described two ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh, while other statements from the coalition reported two cruise missiles intercepted over the capital and the southern region.
Two accounts of what was fired at Riyadh
Coalition statements
As reported by several outlets
- Two missiles intercepted and destroyed
- Described as cruise missiles
- Intercepted over Riyadh and the southern region
Turki al-Malki
Saudi-led coalition spokesman
- Two ballistic missiles intercepted and destroyed
- Aimed at Riyadh
- Attributed to the Houthi militia
Banks, the stock exchange and a metro stop
The district holds the Public Investment Fund's headquarters and the Saudi stock exchange, and hosts firms including Goldman Sachs. Residential housing and a large metro station, which carries heavy commuter traffic during the morning rush hour, are there too.
A campaign that widened after July
Since fighting resumed in July, the Houthis have increased missile and drone strikes against Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities. A 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely halted the war was broken by renewed hostilities. The group has said it will keep firing missiles and drones so long as the kingdom carries out airstrikes on the parts of Yemen it controls and enforces a blockade on its territory.
Sunday's damage adds to earlier strikes on Aramco infrastructure. In an October attack, the company's headquarters in Dhahran suffered extensive damage.
Saudi authorities said an attack on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on 10 October killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. Another account put the toll at more than a dozen dead and hundreds wounded, and reported several additional deaths in other strikes on the airport.
- 2022Truce
A UN-brokered truce largely halts fighting between the two sides.
- JulyFighting resumes
The truce collapses and Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities step up.
- 10 OctoberAirport attack
An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh kills 13 people and wounds more than 300, Saudi authorities say.
- OctoberDhahran strike
Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran suffers extensive damage in an attack.
- SaturdaySanaa deaths
Yemen's Houthi-run health ministry says Saudi airstrikes killed at least 33 people near Sanaa.
- SaturdayHouthi warning
Senior Houthi official Mahdi al-Mashat vows to punish Riyadh.
- Sunday, 8 NovemberRiyadh intercepted
The coalition says two missiles aimed at Riyadh are destroyed and shrapnel damages the Aramco tower in KAFD.
A day before the missile attacks on Riyadh, Yemen's Houthi-run health ministry said at least 33 people, including women and children, died in Saudi airstrikes near Sanaa. Saudi authorities were investigating the reported deaths.
"We will punish the Saudi regime for its crimes against the Yemeni people."
He spoke on Saturday, the day before the interception over Riyadh.
What remains unclear
One witness near the Aramco skyscraper told AFP they saw a projectile hit the building but were unsure what type it was, CNA reported. AFP said it was unable to confirm the extent of the damage. The energy ministry said the building suffered minor damage.
The casualty picture is unsettled in one detail. The ministry reported no injuries or deaths, and one witness said they saw ambulances heading to the area.
No group had said it carried out the attack by Sunday. Aramco was not immediately available for comment, and the Houthis made no immediate statement.
Residents have repeatedly been warned by the interior ministry not to film or publish images showing drones, missiles, air defence interceptors or the sites hit by barrages.
After the Houthis seized Sanaa, the capital, Saudi Arabia dispatched Arab states to Yemen in 2015 to reinstate the internationally recognised government.
