If the Houthis’ account is accurate, Tuesday’s strike went straight for Saudi Arabia’s wallet. The Iran-backed Yemeni movement said one of its ballistic missiles slammed into Ras Tanura, the kingdom’s largest refinery, on the Gulf coast, and spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the complex caught fire.
Saudi officials stayed silent on the claim for hours. Bloomberg, quoting an unnamed person with knowledge of events, reported only that a blaze close to the export terminal had been brought under control before dawn. How badly the Aramco facilities were hurt was not clear.
Few targets matter more. The plant can handle about 550,000 barrels a day, and the terminal next to it is one of just two gateways, along with Yanbu on the Red Sea, through which almost every Saudi oil export travels. The Houthis have aimed at both before, and Ras Tanura was briefly closed as a precaution in the opening phase of the Iran war eight months ago.
The group listed other targets too: two military transport planes at Najran airport and an air base at Khamis Mushait, neither confirmed by Riyadh. Residents of the capital heard sirens on Tuesday afternoon after civil defence issued a short alert, and the Saudi-led coalition said it shot down two ballistic missiles heading for the city. On the ground, the rebels say they pushed back Saudi-backed troops near the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow southern entrance to the Red Sea.
What little remained of the UN-brokered truce from 2022 now looks dead. Envoys from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan sat down with Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday in search of calm, yet Egypt’s lawmakers on the same day cleared their army to defend the kingdom if called upon, a sign that neighbours are bracing for something larger.
