Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced on Saturday they launched a "military operation with ballistic missiles and drones" targeting an Aramco facility in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree stated on X that the strikes were "precise and direct" and resulted in fires at the facility.

This claim comes amid a significant escalation of fighting between the Iran-aligned Houthi group and Saudi Arabia. The conflict in Yemen has intensified since a fragile truce collapsed in July, leading to renewed displacement and strategic territorial gains by the Houthis.

Witnesses reported seeing a large plume of smoke and fire near an Aramco facility in Riyadh on Saturday. However, Saudi authorities and Aramco, the state oil giant, have not yet officially commented on the alleged attack or confirmed the cause of any fire.

The Houthis' announcement follows a pattern of attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure. Late last month, the group claimed responsibility for strikes on Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Saudi Arabia at the time stated it intercepted multiple ballistic missiles but reported no damage to Aramco sites.

In parallel, the Saudi-led coalition, supporting Yemen's internationally recognized government, reported conducting extensive "precise targeting operations" against Houthi reinforcements on multiple fronts in Yemen. Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, a spokesman for the Yemeni government forces, stated these operations targeted Houthi fighters and military vehicles.

The intensified fighting since July has seen the Houthis seize key locations, including the port city of Mocha and strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a critical global oil shipping route. Anti-Houthi forces have since worked to stabilize front lines, but hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

The war in Yemen began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the government to relocate to Aden. The ongoing conflict has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Earlier in the week, the Saudi-led coalition also blamed the Houthis for an attack on a power station in the holy city of Medina. The Houthi claim of striking deep into Saudi Arabia, including the capital, signals a potential shift in the conflict's dynamics as fighting intensifies across Yemen.