Houthi missiles target Riyadh's financial district and damage an Aramco building

Missile alert and damage in Riyadh

On Sunday, 8 November, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles that the Houthis fired at Riyadh shortly after Saudi civil defence issued an alert for the region. The coalition's spokesman, Turki al-Malki, announced the interceptions on X and said two cruise missiles aimed at Riyadh and the south of the country had also been destroyed. Strong explosions were heard in the capital, and the alert was later lifted once authorities said the danger had passed. Eldiario.es reported that the coalition had counted three ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles, a figure that differs from the two ballistic missiles cited by other outlets.

Damage to the Aramco tower

Witnesses told AFP that the King Abdullah Financial District, known as KAFD, was struck and that a building belonging to Aramco was damaged. One witness said the Aramco tower in KAFD was the target, and two others said they had seen damage to the building. Another witness described several upper floors as apparently damaged, with broken windows and visible harm on part of the facade. Unverified images posted online also showed damage to the Aramco building. The state-run Saudi Press Agency said the administrative building was subject to an attempted attack that caused limited damage from debris. At the time of reporting it was not clear whether the damage came from debris from an intercepted missile or from a projectile hitting the building.

Deadly incidents in Yemen on Friday and Saturday

The Houthis accused Saudi forces of two deadly attacks on civilians in Yemen, on Friday, 6 November, and Saturday, 7 November. Eldiario.es reported that a market in Taiz province, in south-western Yemen, was bombed on Friday, 6 November, killing 30 people. The Houthis blamed the coalition, while Majid al Nuzaili, military spokesman for the internationally recognised Yemeni government, accused the insurgents of carrying out the bombing in an area disputed by both sides.

On Saturday, 7 November, the Houthi-run health ministry said Saudi airstrikes east of Sanaa had killed 33 civilians, most of them children and women, and wounded 39. The ministry described those figures as preliminary. Aktualne.cz put the death toll from airstrikes near Sanaa on the same day at no fewer than 22. Saudi authorities said they were investigating the incident, and neither Saudi Arabia nor the Yemeni government had reacted to the 33 figure at the time of reporting.

Background to the renewed fighting

The 2022 UN-brokered truce has broken down. Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Arab states in Yemen since 2015, when it intervened to restore the internationally recognised government after the Houthis seized Sanaa. According to Aktualne.cz, tension rose in July, when government forces bombed Sanaa's international airport in retaliation for the arrival of an Iranian plane, and the Houthis then launched a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia. Since hostilities resumed in July, the Houthis have struck Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities with missiles and drones, while Saudi Arabia has carried out airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

The Yemen front is part of a wider Middle East war triggered by US and Israeli attacks on Iran in February. Bloomberg describes the Houthis as Iran-backed, and they had not commented on the Riyadh strikes at the time of reporting. Aktualne.cz also reports that the Yemen war has claimed more than 150,000 victims, with tens of thousands more dying from hunger or cholera.