Saudi Arabia strikes oil depots in Yemen
Riyadh, Oct. 2026 – Saudi Arabia has launched a series of strikes on a strategic oil depot on the outskirts of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, while later on Tuesday it said it had intercepted missiles launched toward Dharan, location of the headquarters of the huge national energy company Saudi Aramco.
The attacks on both sides were a fresh escalation of the conflict between Riyadh and the Iran-backed Houthi forces. Before its offensive on Tuesday, a Saudi spokesperson warned civilians to leave the target area, in an apparent attempt to strike fear into the local population before the biggest attack so far on Houthi energy infrastructure.
The Central Sabaha Station oil depot on the western side of the city contains large tanks that often hold substantial quantities of fuel derivatives, although the Yemeni Oil Company said its storage facilities were empty at the time of the attack.
Houthi oil depots at the Ras Isa port in Hodeidah, the subject of Israeli attacks in 2024, were also struck in 10 waves of attacks apparently aimed at immobilising the Houthi army as it continues its push south, including towards the city of Taiz.
Earlier the Saudis also struck what they believe to be a Houthi leadership hide-out in the Bani Mu’in area in the Razih border district, west of Saada governorate, northern Yemen.
The strike on the oil depot appeared to be the Saudi response to a Houthi attack on King Khalid international airport in Riyadh on Saturday that killed 13 people and left 300 injured.
The airport is closed until Saturday at the earliest, a blow to an economy that is trying to show its security makes the country a safe place to invest.
A Houthi spokesperson responded to the attack on its oil storage by warning “all employees and citizens present near any facility affiliated with Aramco Petroleum in Riyadh to evacuate it and stay away from it, as it is a legitimate target for our forces”.
Later in the day, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a missile fired at Dharan, the location of the headquarters of Saudi Aramco. It said fragments from the interception fell on a residential area. Witnesses reported hearing loud booms.
An evacuation order for the building had been issued, four sources told Reuters. There was no official comment or confirmation from Aramco.
The incident underlined how Saudi Arabia has complete air dominance over Yemen while the Houthis have to reply using drones and missiles which can be intercepted.
Baraa Shiban, a Yemen specialist at the defence think tank Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), warned “Saudi Arabia is struggling to respond to the Houthi’s improved arms technology. Until relatively recently Houthi missiles and drones fell in desert areas or if they got through were intercepted. They have learned how to deploy drones that fly lower and are smaller, and are less easy to detect. They are cheap and it does not take many to get through to be effective”.
But the two sides’ dramatic threats to set ablaze the enemy energy infrastructure symbolised how the conflict is escalating rather than blowing itself out. (The Guardian)
