Houthis Claim Fire at Aramco Refinery in Riyadh

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a fire reported at an Aramco oil refinery in Riyadh on Saturday, saying the facility was targeted with ballistic missiles and drones.

The claim has not been independently verified. The available information also does not establish whether the fire resulted from a Houthi attack or provide an independent assessment of damage at the refinery.

Conflicting accounts

Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier Yahya Saree said in a statement posted on social media that the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation against Aramco in the Saudi capital.

Saree said the operation involved several ballistic missiles and drones and that it achieved its objective. He also claimed that the strikes were accurate and direct, causing fires at the targeted sites.

He described the alleged operation as a response to what he called an “unjust siege and the launching of aggressive airstrikes” from Saudi territory. Saree said the Houthis would continue targeting Saudi military mobilisations until what they describe as aggression ends and the siege on Yemen is lifted.

The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government characterized the Houthi statement as “misleading.” The coalition said it carried out operations against Houthi militia early Sunday and claimed that hundreds of fighters were killed. That reported death toll is a coalition claim and has not been independently assessed in the supplied information.

Wider escalation

The reported Riyadh fire comes amid a renewed escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iranian-backed Houthis. The source describes the violence as having revived Yemen’s civil war, after a ceasefire in 2022 had largely halted major fighting.

In a separate incident, the Houthis claimed an attack on an Aramco facility in Yanbu last month. Riyadh said missiles involved in that incident had been intercepted and that no damage was reported.

The Houthis also captured the strategic city of Mokha and several Red Sea islands the previous month, according to the source. Those gains were described as the group’s biggest territorial expansion in years and as extending its reach toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The renewed fighting has reportedly killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands in Yemen in recent weeks. The available information does not provide independently confirmed casualty figures connected specifically to the Riyadh refinery fire.