RIYADH, Wednesday, October 14, 2026 — A Houthi ballistic missile slammed into an administrative building inside the Saudi Aramco headquarters complex in the eastern city of Dhahran on Tuesday night, sparking a fire that damaged the top three floors of an office tower, the Saudi energy ministry confirmed, as a barrage of missiles and drones across the kingdom left four people injured in the capital.
The strike marks the first reported direct hit on the headquarters of the world’s largest oil company — the beating heart of the Saudi economy — and represents a sharp escalation in the week-long Houthi missile and drone campaign against the kingdom.
Fire at the heart of Saudi oil
A company source told Reuters that a ballistic missile struck the office tower inside the Dhahran complex late on Tuesday, setting it ablaze, with six sources reporting loud explosions near the facility. The complex hosts a major operations centre overseeing Aramco’s vast network of onshore and offshore rigs, pipelines, refineries and export terminals.
The energy ministry said authorities responded to the incident and took necessary measures, describing the blaze as a “limited fire” with no injuries or fatalities at the facility. The Saudi-led coalition said fragments of an intercepted missile had fallen on a residential area in Dhahran, without giving further details.
The Houthis had openly threatened the target: their military spokesman Yahya Saree warned of a “harsh and painful” response to Saudi-led strikes on Sanaa, naming the Aramco headquarters in Dhahran and a Riyadh refinery among possible targets. The group also warned oil workers in Saudi Arabia to stay away from sites that could be hit.
Debris wounds four in Riyadh
In the capital, falling debris from two intercepted Houthi cruise missiles injured four people — two women, a man and a child — and damaged 15 homes, the Saudi civil defence agency said on Wednesday. Loud explosions rang out across Riyadh just before midnight as air defences engaged hostile targets, with residents receiving phone alerts warning of an aerial threat.
The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted several missiles on Tuesday evening, including over Riyadh, and that drones and missiles were also destroyed in the southern region. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said early Wednesday that a cruise missile was destroyed in Al-Kharj governorate, while three drones were brought down north of Riyadh on Tuesday.
Kingdom vows consequences
The attacks came hours after the coalition carried out airstrikes against oil-related installations in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the western provinces of Dhamar and Saada, targeting facilities it said were used to “supply the war effort” against the kingdom and Red Sea shipping.
In a cabinet session chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi ministers condemned the Houthi actions and promised consequences, state media reported, vowing to protect freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandab Strait, which the rebels have threatened.
The Houthis have for a week been firing ballistic missiles and drones at key Saudi sites in retaliation for the kingdom’s backing of government forces in Yemen’s reignited civil war. Riyadh’s international airport has received four strikes, including one on Saturday that killed 13 people — the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in a decade — grounding flights across the country and straining air defences as the confrontation widens.
[…] Energy Ministry said in a statement that a Saudi Aramco administrative building in Dhahran was targeted in the barrage, adding that no injuries were reported there. Coalition officials said fragments of […]