Houthis claim ballistic-missile strike on Aramco refinery near Riyadh

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Saturday they had targeted an Aramco facility near the Saudi capital Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones, in what they described as retaliation for Saudi air strikes on Sanaa and other provinces. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the strikes had sparked fires at the targeted sites. An AFP journalist in Saudi Arabia reported seeing flames and smoke rising on Saturday afternoon from Aramco's Riyadh refinery, located south of the capital, while firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze and ambulances and police vehicles were stationed nearby. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities of an attack on an Aramco facility, and Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV channel reported that 'Saudi enemy aircraft' hit Sanaa with 26 strikes on Saturday. Two correspondents in the Yemeni capital reported hearing loud explosions and seeing warplanes firing missiles at the city. Al-Masirah also reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in Saada, a Houthi stronghold in the country's northwest. The Houthis said the Saudi-led coalition had conducted up to 60 strikes in the past 24 hours, putting the number of strikes in the renewed conflict at 1,410. The exchange marks a sharp escalation of fighting that resumed in July. On Thursday night, the Houthis said Saudi Arabia had bombed Sanaa for the first time since hostilities resumed. Last month, the Houthis seized all of Yemen's Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Mandab strait — one of the world's most important shipping chokepoints — in a lightning offensive that redrew the map of the war. The Houthis said last week they had attacked Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu with missiles and drones. Saudi Arabia said at the time it had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis towards Taif and the Yanbu area, but did not report damage to Aramco facilities. Yemen's internationally recognised government forces also claimed action on Saturday, with a military spokesman saying they had struck Houthi positions across the country and killed or wounded 1,540 fighters in a day, most of them in Taiz province — claims that could not be independently verified. Oil markets will be watching the Riyadh refinery incident closely. The 2019 Houthi-claimed strikes on Abqaiq and Khurais temporarily wiped out half of Saudi oil output; even unconfirmed attacks on Aramco facilities now feed into a war economy where energy infrastructure has become the favoured pressure point.