The Houthis have attacked an administrative building belonging to Saudi Arabia’s Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran, an Energy Ministry official told Saudi news agency SPA. Authorities responded to a fire caused by the attack on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement. No injuries or deaths were reported. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The attack on the headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company came after Yemen’s Houthis warned all employees and civilians near Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities to evacuate, calling the sites “a legitimate target” on Tuesday. central station in Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital. Saree responded to the coalition evacuation order, warning that any attack on Sanaa would be met with “harsh and painful” retaliation in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Saudi Arabia also intercepted missiles launched by the Houthis towards Riyadh, SPA reported. Four people were injured and 15 houses were damaged by debris from two intercepted missiles, the Civil Defense spokesperson said, according to SPA. Attack on Sanaa oil facility Shortly after the evacuation order from the Saudi-led coalition, Al Jazeera’s team on the ground reported hearing explosions in Sanaa. Houthi-affiliated media outlets said airstrikes by Saudi-backed forces hit an oil facility in the capital’s al-Sabah area. Shortly after the warning, Saree said on Telegram that any Saudi attack on Sanaa would meet a “firm and painful” response in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Houthi officials appeared to have anticipated the attack. The oil company said its storage facilities were empty and that a Saudi attack would not affect oil reserves or supplies for residents. Still, witnesses in the city said lines of cars formed at some gas stations amid fears of shortages. “We heard the explosion in Saudi Arabia aimed at the Yemeni al-Sabah central oil station here in the capital Sanaa,” said Al Jazeera correspondent Yousef Mawry. Saudi Arabia also carried out two other airstrike campaigns on the port of Ras Isa, targeting Yemeni oil storage. tanks and at an oil station in Houthi-controlled Hodeidah province, according to Mawry. Spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, accused the Houthis of using the facility and its underground fuel depots for their arsenal of missiles and drones. On Tuesday, civilians were ordered to evacuate the Aramco company headquarters in Dhahran, Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco-affiliated refinery in Riyadh. Airport attacks An attack on Riyadh airport on Saturday left at least 13 dead and more than 300 injured, shaking the world’s top crude oil exporter. Another person was killed and 11 injured on Sunday after a projectile hit Riyadh airport. Many international airlines have since suspended flights to Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries following the deadly weekend attacks by the Houthis, including Air France-KLM, Air India, Etihad, Lufthansa, Delta, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways. The kingdom, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognized government, was still enduring new attacks. on Tuesday, and the coalition said its forces intercepted three drones north of Riyadh. Saree also reiterated the Houthis’ warning to Saudi Arabia’s airports following recent attacks on multiple airports and oil facilities across the country since last week in the wake of the broader regional conflict between the United States and Iran. Saudi Arabia’s cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said on Tuesday that the Houthis would face “consequences” for their attacks across the kingdom, according to U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the Houthis were “behaving very badly” and told reporters that he “might” ask Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to intervene and support Saudi interests. “I think President Erdogan would do what I ask,” Trump said. Speaking at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said the attacks could have negative consequences “everywhere.” Yemen Dawn Saudi Arabia has launched attacks against the Houthis in recent weeks and is backing a Yemeni government counteroffensive known as “Yemen Dawn” after the group seized strategic territory last month. Yemeni forces loyal to the internationally recognized government said they launched a series of airstrikes against Houthi positions and equipment in the country’s southwest on Tuesday. A total of nine airstrikes were carried out in Taiz governorate, including five in Dhubab district and four in al-Masrakh district, the government said. Video footage shows a member of Yemeni government forces firing a machine gun on October 8. [File: AFP]According to the Taiz Military Axis Media Center, affiliated with the Ministry of Defense, fighting continues between government forces and the Houthis in al-Shaqab, south of Taiz. The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedom said on Tuesday that the Houthis had killed at least five civilians, including a five-year-old girl in Taiz over the previous 24 hours, and wounded 17 other people. The organization accused the Houthis of bombing residential neighborhoods, damaging at least seven homes. He also alleged that the group had fired more than 180 projectiles across Taiz during the previous 24 hours. Houthi offensive In September, the Houthis carried out a lightning ground offensive in Mocha, pushing back forces loyal to the Yemeni government from the strategic port city. The same month, the group’s forces again swept through and seized territory along the western coast and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, including the strategically located Mayyun Island in the strait. As fighting in Yemen continues to rage, International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric warned that civilians across the Middle East are bearing the brunt of the escalating hostilities and has called on all parties to de-escalate. “In Yemen, the scale of death, displacement and damage to civilian infrastructure, including in Aden and Sana’a, is increasing at an alarming rate. Across the Middle East, civilian infrastructure has been repeatedly hit and lost lives,” Spoljaric said in a statement. At least 46 civilians have been killed and more than 130 injured in Yemen since August, many of them children, and more than 200,000 people have been displaced since September, according to the United Nations.
