Houthis Claim Strikes on Aramco Yanbu and Rabigh Refinery as Saudi Coalition Reports Missile Intercepts
Yemen’s Houthis said on Saturday, 24 October 2026, that they had attacked a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh oil refinery, the East-West crude pipeline and four Saudi airports and air bases with ballistic missiles and drones. Saudi authorities had not confirmed any hits at the time of writing. The Saudi-led coalition said its air defences destroyed two ballistic missiles fired towards Taif and Yanbu, and earlier a missile aimed at Riyadh and a drone over the Eastern Province.
- Houthis claim: seven missile and drone attacks on Riyadh and Dammam airports, Aramco Yanbu, Rabigh refinery, East-West pipeline, Najran airport and Khamis Mushait air base
- Coalition says: missiles towards Riyadh, Taif and Yanbu and a drone over the Eastern Province intercepted
- Civil Defence: debris fell in Mecca, Jeddah, Taif and Rabigh areas; no casualties mentioned
- Sanaa health ministry says Saudi strikes killed 11 people at a house and a cement factory’s workers’ housing
- No Saudi confirmation of hits on oil sites at time of writing
What the Houthis claim
In a statement carried by the Houthi-run Saba news agency at about 19:00 local time, military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had carried out “seven operations”. He listed King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which he said was struck “in two phases”, an Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh refinery, crude oil pumping stations and the East-West pipeline, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Najran airport and the air base at Khamis Mushait. Saree claimed every target was hit and that air traffic at Dammam was disrupted (Saba). None of this has been independently verified.
Saree said the attacks were retaliation for what he described as 100 Saudi air strikes on Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas in the previous 24 hours. In a separate statement, he said Houthi forces had also targeted Saudi-backed troops at what he called “Al-Nasr camp” and a naval base in Aden (Saba). Yemen’s internationally recognised government said three Houthi ballistic missiles hit coast guard sites in Aden, Reuters reported.
What Saudi authorities say
Coalition spokesman Maj Gen Turki al-Malki said early on Saturday that air defences had intercepted a ballistic missile launched towards Riyadh and destroyed a drone in the Eastern Region (SPA, SPA). Later in the day, the coalition said it destroyed two ballistic missiles fired towards Taif and Yanbu. Saudi Civil Defence briefly issued alerts for Taif, Yanbu, Mecca and Jeddah and lifted them about ten minutes later (Reuters).
According to the Civil Defence spokesman, quoted by the Saudi Press Agency, parts of the two intercepted missiles fell in Wadi al-Mughammas in Mecca, and interception fragments landed in Jeddah’s al-Nuzha district, Wadi Jalil in Taif and the Mastoura area of Rabigh governorate (SPA). The statement did not mention casualties. It did not refer to the Houthi claims about Aramco, the pipeline or the Rabigh refinery.
Sanaa reports deaths from Saudi air strikes
The Health Ministry in Sanaa, which is run by the Houthis, said Saudi aircraft hit a house in the capital’s Asr area, killing three people and injuring three (Saba). In an update on Saturday evening, it said strikes on workers’ housing at a cement factory in Hamdan district had killed eight people, including three women and four children, and injured 15 (Saba). Defense and Tech has not seen a coalition statement on these reports.
Why Yanbu and Rabigh matter
Yanbu, on the Red Sea, is the western end of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which allows the kingdom to export crude without sending it through the Strait of Hormuz. Rabigh, on the same coast north of Jeddah, hosts a large refining complex. Any confirmed damage there would matter well beyond Saudi Arabia; so far, only the Houthis say these sites were hit.
Previous developments
On Thursday, 22 October, the Houthis claimed attacks on the Saudi defence ministry in Riyadh, Aramco facilities in Yanbu and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam. Saudi authorities said two people were killed in Dammam but did not confirm the other two claims, according to Reuters. The wider escalation since September, including the deadly strikes on Riyadh airport, is covered in our Houthi-Saudi war overview. In Cairo, the House of Representatives is due to resume on 26 October its debate on President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s request for authorisation to help defend Saudi Arabia; see our report on the Egyptian vote. Earlier, the Houthis claimed to have shot down a Saudi helicopter in Najran, which the coalition attributed to a technical fault (AH-6i crash report).
Sources: Saudi Press Agency (coalition and Civil Defence statements, 24 October 2026); Reuters; Saba (statements by Yahya Saree and the Health Ministry in Sanaa). Houthi and Saudi claims have not been independently verified. This story will be updated.
