Houthi strike hits Aramco Tower in central Riyadh

Yemen's Houthi movement, which is backed by Iran, carried out an attack on the central financial district of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on Saturday. The Aramco Tower, a skyscraper linked to the Saudi oil company Aramco, was struck. The attack is part of a renewed Houthi campaign against Saudi Arabia that the Gulf power has struggled to contain in recent months.

The Houthi-controlled news agency Saba confirmed that the group had targeted Riyadh's business zone, though its statement did not name the Aramco Tower. Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said the building had sustained only minor damage and that nobody was killed or injured. Footage authenticated by BBC Verify points to heavier damage: at least one floor appears to have been badly hit by a missile or drone, and windows on more than one level seem to have been shattered.

The Houthis said separate strikes also targeted Riyadh's airport and Aramco oil storage facilities. Saudi Arabia says its air defences intercepted and destroyed several missiles.

The previous day

A day earlier, the Houthis accused the Saudi-led coalition of killing at least 33 people, including women and children, in an air strike on Yemen. Footage from the Houthi-run channel Al Masirah showed rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble of several buildings in al-Shariyah, a town east of the capital Sanaa. Saba reported 39 people injured. Saudi Arabia has not commented.

Background to the conflict

A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis for more than a decade in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government, which has lost control of a large part of the country. The conflict had been largely dormant in recent years, but fighting has intensified since the Iran war began. An informal ceasefire collapsed in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis say they are retaliating for what they describe as a Saudi blockade of their territory, as well as for an air strike on Sanaa airport that Saudi Arabia says was meant to stop an Iranian aircraft from landing there. Major fighting has since resumed between Houthi forces and troops aligned with Yemen's Saudi-backed government. According to the United Nations, more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since the fighting resumed.