A ballistic missile struck an office tower in the Saudi Aramco headquarters complex in Dhahran as Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia escalated. A company source quoted by Reuters said a Saudi-led coalition had also struck the Yemen Petroleum Company's Sabah central station and other sites near Sanaa.
The tower's top three floors suffered damage, the source said, and fire broke out in the building. The complex houses a major Aramco operations center overseeing oil rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals. Saudi Aramco made no official comment. The coalition said fragments from an intercepted missile fell in a residential area in Dhahran. It also reported intercepting and destroying drones and missiles in Riyadh and the southern region.
Strikes and retaliation
The coalition said its operation sought to “neutralizing the capabilities of Houthis” to threaten Saudi Arabia, Yemen and international waterways. Before striking, it warned civilians to leave the Yemen Oil Company site and nearby storage areas in al-Subaha, western Sanaa. The site sits on a hill overlooking the capital, outside a populated area, though the public uses a nearby fuel station.
Houthi-run Al-Masirah television reported strikes on oil facilities west of Sanaa but offered no evidence. City witnesses heard explosions. It wasn't immediately clear what the strikes had hit. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said on Telegram that a Saudi attack on Sanaa would draw a “firm and painful” response in Riyadh.
The Houthis had threatened a “harsh and painful” response to the coalition's strikes. Spokesperson Yahya Saree said possible targets included the Aramco headquarters in Dhahran and an oil refinery in Riyadh. The group also warned Saudi oil workers to keep away from sites it might target.
On Monday, October 12, the Houthis launched fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia. The National reported that King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh suspended operations until midnight on October 17 after an attack on Saturday, October 10, killed 13 people and injured more than 300. Another attack killed one person on Sunday. Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Civil Aviation said King Fahd International Airport in Dammam also came under attack Sunday evening, with officials assessing the damage.
At least 20 people had died in attacks since the previous week on King Khalid International Airport and Abha International Airport in Asir province. On Monday night, the coalition said it intercepted a missile launched at Riyadh after authorities sounded a threat alarm and residents heard three explosions in the capital. It also said it intercepted three drones north of Riyadh, a claim the Associated Press said it couldn't independently verify.
Fighting and regional security
Yemeni government forces, backed by the coalition, clashed with Houthi rebels on the outskirts of Taiz, a strategic city in southwest Yemen, and repelled fresh attacks. A military spokesman said coalition airstrikes stopped the Houthis from sending reinforcements. Reuters reported that a government offensive launched a week earlier had pushed the Houthis away from the area closest to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The group remained nearby and had made gains around Taiz that month.
The latest Saudi-Houthi conflict began the previous month, after rebels seized key areas along the strait, a route for Gulf oil and other goods at the southern end of the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia resumed its military campaign backing Yemen's internationally recognized government. Reuters said the strait had become more important to Saudi and global energy supplies since the Iran war began on February 28, 2026, when Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Several airlines cancelled or disrupted services to Saudi Arabia. Etihad Airways cancelled flights between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh until Monday, October 19; Flydubai cancelled Riyadh flights until Wednesday, October 14; and Emirates and Air Arabia services were affected. Ali, a passenger from Hyderabad travelling with his family on an Umrah pilgrimage, was injured in Saturday's attack on Riyadh's passenger terminal. The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia confirmed his death on Sunday and said it was helping his family arrange repatriation of his remains.
US role and diplomatic calls
Saudi Arabia was seeking more direct US military support, the Associated Press reported. The United States had provided intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for a Saudi-led offensive, but had not launched strikes against the Houthis. Reuters reported that Washington had so far rejected Saudi requests to join the war directly.
US Central Command chief Adm Brad Cooper said the United States and regional allies were deploying the “largest air-defence umbrella in the world.” US air defenders had linked national systems in real time and intercepted “thousands of Iranian attack drones and missiles,” he said. Trump told reporters in Washington on Monday that the Houthis were “misbehaving very badly,” but didn't say whether the United States would respond.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that Tehran stood ready to help broker talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis for a “political solution,” Iranian state media reported. Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty urged the Houthis to stop attacking Saudi Arabia. “There is no justification for these attacks, and they cannot be accepted,” he said, calling for diplomacy and a political solution to the conflict between Iran and the United States.