Saudi oil giant’s executive offices struck

Offices belonging to senior executives with Saudi oil giant Aramco were hit in an overnight Houthi strike on the company’s headquarters, two regional officials said on Wednesday, in the latest demonstration of the Iran-backed rebels’ ability to attack high-profile targets even after issuing warnings that they would do so. 
The officials said the top three floors in a building used by top executives were damaged. One official said the office of the Aramco chief executive was among those hit. There were no casualties. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
The sight of smoke rising from some of Saudi Arabia’s most sensitive facilities in recent days has rattled the region and global markets while increasing questions for US President Donald Trump, who has said he is evaluating whether the US should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis in the latest front in the Iran war.
The Houthis earlier said they targeted the city of Dhahran, which hosts the headquarters, with a ballistic missile as part of their latest attacks. The Saudi energy ministry reported a “limited fire” at the Aramco administrative building Tuesday night. Aramco didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, Saudi civil defense said debris from an interception in the capital, Riyadh, injured a foreigner from an Arab country. The state-run SPA news agency published images showing a vehicle with a large cylindrical object lodged in the front and a building damaged.
The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis said it intercepted cruise and ballistic missiles and drones targeting Riyadh, a ballistic missile targeting Dhahran, and a cruise missile targeting Al-Kharj, home to Prince Sultan Air Base and the state-owned Military Industries Corporation.

A senior Houthi official told The Associated Press that regional and international powers have reached out in an effort to stop the attacks on Saudi Arabia as part of a ceasefire deal.
Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, said Oman has tried to get both sides back to the negotiating table, and Russia and China also tried via Iran.
“We’re welcoming any mediation that leads to an end of the war and the blockade between Sanaa and Riyadh,” he said. “We’re ready for a comprehensive end of the war and the blockade from both sides, not just a temporary ceasefire.”
Hospitals across Yemen are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in war casualties, while intensified fighting along multiple front lines has cut off vital aid to around 800,000 people, humanitarian agencies said on Wednesday.
Aid agencies are warning of rapidly worsening conditions in Yemen since war resumed between the Iran-allied Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government last month, a conflict reignited by the US-Iran confrontation in the Gulf.
In Taiz, a government-held city that was encircled by Houthi fighters earlier this month, wheat flour stocks are nearly exhausted, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.
Remaining food supplies may not last long if access constraints continue, it said, adding that more than 600,000 people in Taiz depend on aid, including more than 200,000 children. 
Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday said a ship caught fire and sank in the Strait of Hormuz because of a mine, while British security firm Vanguard also reported a sinking.
"A container ship attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz using an unauthorised and dangerous shipping lane struck a mine that exploded," said the navy of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military.
Two ships sustained minor damage after coming under attack in the Strait of Hormuz, a British maritime agency reported Wednesday. 

Recommended Stories

• Padma Barrage inauguration targeted for February
• AI demand will exceed chip-tool capacity through 2028: ASML