Houthis attack skyscraper belonging to Saudi Arabia's state oil company; VIDEO

A video taken by a witness and obtained by the Reuters news agency this Monday (9) shows some floors of the commercial building destroyed (see above).

In an official statement on the social network X, the Saudi Ministry of Energy revealed that there were no casualties despite the bombing:

Houthi-controlled al-Masirah TV said Sunday's operation hit Aramco facilities in Abqaiq, a major oil processing center in the kingdom's Eastern Province, and that the attack hit its intended targets and caused fires.

The group's spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said the bombings targeted concentrations of Yemeni government forces, supported by the Saudi government, and described them as retaliation for recent airstrikes carried out days earlier against a public market and homes in the Bani Hushaysh district, east of the capital Sanaa, by the coalition formed by Saudi Arabia.

According to him, the two attacks left more than 120 people dead or injured, most of them women and children.

Targeting Riyadh's business district is a major escalation in the conflict between the kingdom and the Houthis, which resumed in July with a maritime blockade and opened a new front in the war in the Middle East.

The King Abdullah Financial District is one of the symbols of the economic and social reforms underway in Saudi Arabia, with imposing skyscrapers, luxury commercial establishments and green areas. The area is also home to residential units, as well as a metro station that is very busy during peak hours.

According to Andreas Krieg, an analyst at King's College London, with this attack, the Houthis "take Saudi Arabia's economic transformation hostage to a war that appears increasingly unwinnable" for the kingdom.

The UN says more than 1,600 people have died and more than 300,000 have been displaced since fighting resumed in Yemen.