The headquarters of Saudi Aramco, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, has sustained extensive damage as a result of an apparent attack by Houthi forces in Saudi Arabia. According to reports from Reuters citing sources close to the matter, a severe fire tore through the building from the sixth to the tenth floors, causing ceiling collapses and shattering windows on the upper levels.

Official statements insist that the complex operations continue in a standard mode, though such claims remain difficult to verify independently. Parts of the workforce have allegedly been shifted to remote operations, while certain corporate functions were hastily relocated to overseas offices, pointing toward vulnerabilities within the critical asset.

Insiders indicated that the blaze originated on the ninth floor of the building's southern wing before rapidly spreading across multiple tiers. The top three floors, which house the office of the Saudi Aramco chief executive, suffered the heaviest toll, with structural ceiling failures and completely blown-out doors and windows.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Ministry of Energy offered a markedly different assessment, claiming that the assault merely resulted in a localized and contained fire. This minimization contrasts sharply with the strategic importance of the facility, which houses the central operational hub used to monitor offshore and onshore oil platforms, refineries, export terminals, and thousands of kilometers of pipelines.

The incident unfolds amid a deepening escalation of hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Houthi forces in Yemen, who are purportedly backed by the Iranian government. Previous escalations included strikes on critical locations such as the Riyadh international airport, which reportedly resulted in numerous casualties.

Source: podrobno.uz