Loud explosions were heard across Riyadh on Sunday morning as Saudi air defences intercepted missiles fired towards the capital, and falling debris from the interception damaged the Aramco tower in the city’s King Abdullah Financial District.
The Saudi-led coalition said its air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthis towards Riyadh. It later said two cruise missiles had also been intercepted over Riyadh and the southern region.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that several floors of the 36-storey tower, also known as Villas in the Sky, were hit, with windows blown out and part of the facade torn away. A Reuters witness at the scene reported shattered windows across several floors, and video of the damage verified by CNN circulated widely online.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry described the incident as an attempted attack on an administrative building belonging to state oil giant Aramco. It said falling shrapnel caused minor damage to the building and that no injuries or fatalities were reported. Aramco did not immediately comment.
The Houthis said they had carried out missile and drone operations against Aramco facilities, Riyadh airport and Saudi military positions. The coalition said the missiles fired towards Riyadh on Sunday morning came from the Houthis, and its spokesman said air defences had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles.
The damaged tower stands in the King Abdullah Financial District, a cluster of modern office towers in northern Riyadh that is home to more than 140 companies and was built as a showcase for the kingdom’s economic reform plans. Saudi civil defence had issued an early warning to residents before the explosions were heard.
The incident comes amid a wider exchange of fire between the two sides. The Houthis said coalition air strikes near Sanaa a day earlier had killed 33 people, including eight women and 13 children, a toll that could not be independently verified. Sunday’s damage to a landmark tower in the heart of Riyadh’s financial district underlined how the conflict in Yemen continues to reach into the Saudi capital.
