Houthis vow more attacks on Saudi airports and oil sites after the Aramco headquarters hit

The Houthis promised on Wednesday that the attacks on Saudi Arabia will continue, claimed the strike on the headquarters of the state oil company, and told the people who use the kingdom's airports and oil sites to leave them.

The Iran aligned group said it had launched ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco facilities in the eastern city of Dhahran, at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and at an Aramco refinery in Riyadh, without saying when each attack took place. In a broad threat, the group urged international shipping companies, civilians and workers to evacuate airports and oil facilities, which it declared legitimate military targets.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said Tuesday's attack on the Aramco headquarters complex in Dhahran hit an administrative building and caused a limited fire, with no injuries or deaths. A company source told Reuters a ballistic missile damaged the upper three floors of an office tower. The Dhahran complex hosts a major operations centre for Aramco, overseeing a vast network of oil rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals. Saudi Civil Defense said debris from two intercepted missiles fell on Riyadh, injuring four people and causing limited damage to 15 homes, as of Wednesday.

The fighting did not pause for the announcements. The Saudi led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh on Wednesday, loud booms were heard in the capital, and authorities issued an alert for a possible aerial threat before lifting it. Riyadh's international airport has now been hit four times in a week, including the Saturday strike that killed 13 people.

The Houthis say they are retaliating for the kingdom's backing of Yemeni government forces in the war that restarted last month, reignited by the American and Iranian confrontation in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia answered on Tuesday by striking the Houthis largest fuel depot in northern Yemen. The escalation is also a direct blow to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's program to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil: a war that closes the capital's airport and strikes the oil company's headquarters works against every part of that plan. The picture is an illustration of the Dhahran complex, not a photograph of the attack.