Summary

Yemen's Houthis said on Wednesday they had targeted facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco, after Saudi officials reported a strike on a building in an area housing the energy giant's operations centre. Powerful explosions meanwhile rattled the Saudi capital, as the coalition fighting the Houthis said it had intercepted a missile fired by the Iran-backed group towards Riyadh. Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude oil exporter, has in recent days come under sustained attack in a dramatic escalation in the war with the Houthis. It has hit back with strikes against the group's stronghold in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which for years has been under their grip. Yahya Saree, Houthi military spokesman, said their forces had conducted "a high-quality military operation targeting Aramco in Dhahran" as well as strikes targeting Riyadh airport and a refinery in the capital. "This was carried out using a large number of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones," he said, adding that "operations toward Saudi depths will continue in the coming days, targeting Saudi enemy airports and oil facilities". Earlier, a Saudi energy ministry official said a building belonging to Aramco in Dhahran was struck, resulting in a "limited fire" but "no casualties or fatalities". Dhahran is home to Aramco's headquarters, a vast complex comprising numerous buildings and residential compounds. The Saudi-led coalition meanwhile struck oil sites across western Yemen, with spokesman Turki Al-Malki saying the attacks targeted facilities used to supply the Houthis' effort to "threaten the kingdom, Yemen, the southern Red Sea and waterways". Saudi Arabia faces a major economic contraction this year, with GDP expected to shrink 3.3 percent, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, predicting a regional drop over Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The kingdom was already facing headwinds from Iran's chokehold on Hormuz since the start of the Middle East war in February, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran. But the restart in July of Yemen's frozen war has further roiled the kingdom and brought the fight to its own soil. Houthi attacks have also targeted oil tankers in the Red Sea - Saudi Arabia's alternative export route. (AFP) Edited by Azam Khan