NO INJURIES
Multiple floors of the Aramco tower appeared to have sustained damage, said another witness, with glass shattered and damage to part of the tower’s facade visible.
The energy ministry said in a statement that “an administrative building belonging to Saudi Aramco in Riyadh was subjected to an attempted attack today”.
“The incident resulted in falling shrapnel that caused minor damage to the building, with no injuries or fatalities reported, thankfully.”
The attack comes hours after the kingdom’s education ministry announced, late on Saturday, the return of in-person schooling after weeks of remote-learning in Riyadh following an earlier wave of strikes.
Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki, in a Sunday morning social media post, said that “air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi terrorist militia towards Riyadh”, as loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital.
The kingdom has been pressing allies for help as it comes under daily fire from the Houthis that recently seized swathes of the Red Sea coastline from the Riyadh-backed government.
Thousands of Syrian troops are set to deploy to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with some already on the ground, multiple Yemeni officials told AFP.
The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed in impoverished Yemen.
The fragile 2022 truce fell apart after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in Yemen’s capital Sanaa in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace, setting off a spate of attacks.
Later, the Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities, before seizing Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning campaign.
