Houthi strike damages Aramco tower in Riyadh as Syria sends troops
A Houthi attack damaged the Aramco Tower in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District on Saturday night, blowing out windows across several floors; Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry reported “minor damage” from falling debris and no casualties, while footage analysed by the BBC showed at least one floor badly hit. Syria is sending an initial 600 special forces to the kingdom, three officials told AP, and a drone strike on the Khor Mor gas field knocked most of Iraqi Kurdistan off the grid.
The Houthis said they had targeted Riyadh’s business zone, the airport and Aramco storage; the Saudis said air defences intercepted several missiles. The attack is the most visible blow to the capital since the 10 October strike on King Khalid airport killed 13 people, and it comes a day after the Houthis accused the Saudi-led coalition of killing at least 33 in al-Shariyah. Riyadh is leaning on Damascus: 36 Syrian military officials have visited the Jeddah operations room, the first 600 fighters are expected within a week, and Saudi Arabia has lent Syria more than $400m. Damascus insists the deployment is for “training, expertise exchange and military consultations” and that “there is no deployment of troops to Yemen”, though AFP reported Syrians running drone operations there. In northern Iraq the Sunday-night drone strike on Khor Mor, in Sulaimaniyah governorate, cut 2,500 to 2,800 megawatts and left more than 70% of the Kurdish region without power, with supply suspended to Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok; nobody has claimed it. The Saudi–Houthi war, reignited in July after the 2022 ceasefire collapsed, now runs alongside the US–Iran one; watch whether Riyadh’s new Mecca defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan is invoked.