An administrative building owned by Saudi state oil giant Aramco was damaged in Riyadh on Sunday as the kingdom reported a series of missile attacks launched by Yemen's Houthi movement.
An official at Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said the Aramco building sustained minor damage after being struck by falling shrapnel. The official said no injuries or deaths were reported, adding that the relevant authorities had responded and taken the necessary measures.
A Reuters witness reported seeing windows blown out across several floors of the Aramco Tower in the King Abdullah Financial District, one of the Saudi capital's main business hubs. The damage followed reports of loud explosions across Riyadh and an early-warning alert issued by Saudi Civil Defence. Authorities later said the danger had passed.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said its air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched towards Riyadh on Sunday. It later reported intercepting two cruise missiles over the capital and the kingdom's southern region. Earlier, coalition spokesperson Major-General Turki al-Maliki said a separate ballistic missile fired towards the Eastern Province had also been intercepted.
The developments come amid escalating fighting between the coalition and the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, following the collapse of a 2022 truce and renewed military operations in Yemen.
The latest missile interceptions came a day after the Houthi-run Health Ministry said coalition air strikes killed at least 33 people, including eight women and 13 children, in the village of al-Shariyah near Sanaa. Health Ministry spokesperson Anees al-Asbahi said at least 39 others were wounded in Saturday's attacks, which he said targeted homes, roads, paramedics and Civil Defence teams in the Bani Hushaish district, east of the capital.
There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition on the reported strikes, and Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify the casualty figures.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed the coalition had carried out 105 air strikes and missile attacks over 24 hours, targeting Sanaa and seven other governorates, and put the total number of attacks since the latest escalation began at 4,369. Saree said the Houthis had conducted six operations targeting Aramco facilities, Riyadh airport and Saudi military positions on both sides of the border.
The latest escalation follows a campaign launched last month by Yemen's internationally recognised government to retake territory held by the Houthis, including Sanaa, which the group has controlled since 2014.
