Explosions in Riyadh and eastern Saudi Arabia after attack alert

Asaudi authorities today issued an alert for air strikes in Riyadh and the eastern region of the kingdom, where explosions occurred, a few hours after the Huthis rebels in Yemen threatened to attack installations of the Aramco oil giant.

The residents of the eastern region received SMS alerts reporting “an aerial threat” before being notified that the alert had been lifted.

According to witnesses heard by AFP, explosions were heard at an Aramco facility in the east of the country.

The Huthis military spokesperson, Yahya Sahara, had threatened to attack the headquarters of Saudi state oil company Aramco in Dammam, northeast Saudi Arabia, and a refinery of the same company in Riyadh in response to attacks by the Saudi Arabian coalition today in Yemen.

The coalition confirmed that it attacked oil facilities in Sana, Yemen's capital controlled by the pro-Iranian Huthis rebels — and elsewhere in the country, just hours after asking the civilian population to leave the area.

The spokesman for the military coalition, Turki al-Maliki, reported on social network X that these facilities — including those located in the provinces of Saada and Dhamar, in western Yemen — supported the Huthis’ “war effort” against “the kingdom (saudit), Yemen, the south of the Red Sea and the maritime routes”.

In the capital Riyadh a strong explosion was also heard tonight, according to AFP journalists, after an air alert issued by the authorities.

“The city of Riyadh is under a hostile air threat,” said a message received by residents of the Saudi capital, later informed that the alert had been lifted.

The internationally recognized government of Yemen today promised to move forward with the “Selived of Yemen” military offensive against the Shia Huthis and classified as “irreversible” the decision to end its rule.

Rashad al-Alimi, president of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, accused the Huthis, supported by Iran, of “prolonging war and expanding” attacks on cities, neighbouring countries and international shipping routes.

“ This decision is now binding and irreversible, regardless of sacrifices,” the Yemeni leader said in a television statement on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the 14 October revolution against British colonial rule in southern Yemen.

Al-Alimi dedicated an important part of his speech to Taiz — disputed province of the southwest — where, he said, the escalation of fighting and restrictions of circulation aggravated the suffering of the civilian population.

He also condemned the recent Huthis attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which made dozens dead and wounded, and said that Saudi Arabia’s security “is inseparable from Yemen’s interests and regional stability.”.