Houthis claim missile and drone attack on Aramco site in Riyadh

Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday that it had fired ballistic missiles and drones at a facility belonging to Aramco, the Saudi oil company, in the Saudi capital Riyadh. According to a Reuters report carried by Haaretz, the Houthis described the attack as a response to Saudi strikes on Sanaa and on other Yemeni provinces.

In a brief alert, Ynet reported that strikes had hit Sanaa and Saada, attributing them to the Yemeni army, alongside the Houthi claim about Aramco. Hours later, the Israeli Telegram channel Abu Ali Express said that Saudi Arabia had again struck Sanaa overnight and that the Houthis had answered with a further attack on Riyadh, during which air traffic at the city's international airport was stopped at least three times. The same text was published by News.co.il.

Who the Houthis are and what they hold

The Houthis are an armed movement that controls Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, and large parts of the country's north. Reuters describes them as aligned with Iran. Saada, the second location named in the Ynet alert, is a northern province regarded as the movement's heartland. Abu Ali Express referred to Sanaa as the Houthis' capital, reflecting the fact that the city is run by the movement rather than by the government that Saudi Arabia has backed.

Aramco is Saudi Arabia's state oil company and one of the kingdom's most important economic assets. An attack on one of its facilities in Riyadh, if confirmed, would place the confrontation in the centre of the Saudi capital rather than in border areas.

Who carried out the strikes on Sanaa

The reports do not describe the strikes on Yemen in the same way. Ynet's alert attributed the strikes on Sanaa and Saada to the army of Yemen, a phrase that does not specify which force is meant. The Houthis, as quoted by Reuters, blamed Saudi Arabia for attacks on Sanaa and other provinces. Abu Ali Express and News.co.il also said that Saudi Arabia struck Sanaa. This article does not resolve that difference, and none of the reports includes a statement from Saudi authorities or from Yemen's government.

The order of events

The accounts also present the sequence differently. In the Houthi version reported by Reuters, the Aramco attack came in retaliation for Saudi strikes. The Abu Ali Express post described the Houthi attack on Aramco facilities as having taken place the previous day, followed by Saudi strikes on Sanaa overnight and then a renewed Houthi attack on Riyadh. Both accounts describe a cycle of attacks on the two capitals, but they place the starting point in different places.

Disruption at Riyadh airport

The claim that flights at Riyadh's international airport were halted at least three times comes from the Abu Ali Express post, repeated by News.co.il. The channel said it had attached footage of the airport disruption and of the strikes on Sanaa. The report does not say how long each stoppage lasted or whether any flights were diverted or cancelled.

How the channel framed it

Abu Ali Express, which tracks Arab affairs for an Israeli audience, added its own assessment, writing that both sides had dropped their restraint and arguing that the Houthis can absorb far more damage while the Saudis have far more to lose. That is the channel's commentary rather than reporting, and it is not echoed in the Reuters account.

What the reports do not say

• None of the reports states whether the Aramco facility was hit, whether there was damage, or whether anyone was hurt.
• No report names the specific Aramco site targeted.
• There is no account of casualties or damage from the strikes on Sanaa or Saada.
• No Saudi official response is quoted, either confirming or denying strikes on Yemen or an attack on Riyadh.
• The reports do not identify which force Ynet meant by the Yemeni army.
• The footage mentioned by Abu Ali Express is described but not independently verified in any of the reports.