Loud blasts near Aramco headquarters

Loud booms were heard on Tuesday night near the headquarters of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, the world's largest and the backbone of the kingdom's economy, in Dhahran, six sources told Reuters, amid an escalating war between Yemen's Iran-allied Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition.

There was no official comment from the company, Saudi Aramco. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters the Aramco headquarters had been struck, though it was unclear if the building had been hit directly or by falling debris.

One source said the Aramco headquarters was on fire in Dhahran, the center of the Saudi oil industry in Eastern Province. An evacuation order for the building had been issued, four sources said.

The Saudi-led coalition said fragments of a missile that it had intercepted and destroyed in Dhahran had fallen on a residential area without providing further details.

Authorities also reported drones and missiles were intercepted and destroyed in the capital, Riyadh, and the country's southern region.

The Houthis have for a week been firing ballistic missiles and drones at key Saudi sites in retaliation for the kingdom's backing of government forces against the Houthis in Yemen's reignited civil war. Riyadh’s international airport has received four strikes including one on Saturday that killed 13 people.

The Houthis earlier said Saudi Arabia was attacking the Yemeni capital Sanaa and a Saudi-led coalition warned civilians to stay away from an oil depot on the city's  outskirts.

Houthi-run Al-Masirah television reported that the Saudi-led coalition had targeted the Yemen Petroleum Company's Sabah central station, a fuel depot on the outskirts of Sanaa.