Fire at Aramco Building as Saudi Hits Yemen’s Fuel Depots
Officials say a fire broke out at a Saudi Aramco building in Dhahran after an overnight strike, as the coalition says it intercepted four missiles and two drones near Riyadh. Saudi aircraft hit a fuel facility west of Sanaa in ten waves. Brent rose above $106. Aramco has not commented.
Two things are worth not overstating. No source confirms Aramco’s headquarters was hit — the company’s head office sits in the same eastern cluster of cities, and what is established is a fire at a building in Dhahran, reported by unnamed officials, with no casualties recorded and no word from the company. The Houthi-run Yemen Petroleum Company insists the depot struck near Sanaa “does not contain any stock of petroleum products”, though queues formed at the capital’s petrol stations. Major General Turki al-Maliki said projectiles aimed at Riyadh and other cities were destroyed; civilians near the Yemeni target were warned to leave first. The Saudi cabinet, chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, says the Houthis will “bear the consequences”. Baraa Shiban of the Royal United Services Institute explains the asymmetry: the kingdom is struggling because Houthi drones “fly lower and are smaller, and are less easy to detect. They are cheap and it does not take many to get through.” Donald Trump accused the group of “purposefully trying to drive up Oil Prices”.