Aramco building in Riyadh's KAFD damaged; Saudi-led coalition blames Houthi rebels

Saudi Aramco's administrative building in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, was damaged on Sunday, November 8. Several loud explosions were heard in Riyadh on Sunday morning. It later emerged that Aramco's high-rise building in the area had been damaged.

Eyewitnesses said the window panes on several floors of the building were shattered. There are also reports of damage to the outer structure of some sections. Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry described the incident as an attempted attack. According to the ministry, a fragment of a missile that fell during the attempted attack caused minor damage to the building. There is no record of any death or injury in the incident.

The Saudi-led military coalition said its air defence system destroyed two ballistic missiles fired towards Riyadh. Cruise missiles heading towards Riyadh and southern areas were also reportedly intercepted. The coalition alleges that Yemen's Houthi rebels are behind the attack. However, there was initially no official response from the Houthis on this particular incident. It has therefore not been officially established who is responsible for the attack or exactly what caused the damage to the building.

The King Abdullah Financial District is an important economic and business area of Saudi Arabia. It houses the offices of several large companies, as well as the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) and key institutions linked to the stock market. For this reason, damage to the Aramco building here is being seen as a serious security matter for Saudi Arabia.

It is said that the Houthis now have modern weapons and ballistic missiles and that their fighters are fully trained, which has heightened the threat. The Houthis are said to be backed by Iran. Saudi Arabia and the United States say Iran gives the Houthis every kind of help from time to time, which is why they are able to carry out heavy attacks on Saudi Arabia. Political analysts, however, say that in reality Saudi Arabia took this fight upon itself.

With the conflict in Yemen intensifying again, the risk of attacks on Saudi energy facilities, airports and key infrastructure has grown. The incident has raised concern over the security of Saudi Arabia's economic and energy sectors. Concern has also been voiced over the security situation in the Gulf countries and over global oil supplies.