Saudi Aramco Evacuates Dhahran Headquarters as Houthi Clashes Intensify
The world's largest crude exporter tells employees to leave its main site and work from home, a first since the Iran war began, as Houthi attacks on the kingdom spread.
Saudi Aramco evacuates Dhahran headquarters, with staff told to work remotely, according to six people with knowledge of the matter, as Houthi clashes with Saudi Arabia escalate.
It is the first time the world’s largest crude exporter has asked employees to leave the site since the Iran war began. Aramco did not respond to a request for comment. It is not clear what prompted the order.
The decision came a day after a Houthi attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, about 15 kilometers north of Dhahran. The attack killed two people and injured eight, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said. The victims were a Saudi citizen and an Indian national. The authority first reported one death, so the toll rose after the first count. It said airport operations had resumed and air traffic was back to normal by Thursday.
The Houthis have hit Saudi airports repeatedly, including Riyadh’s international airport and the southern airport of Abha. A missile strike on the Riyadh airport on October 10 killed at least 12 people. Earlier this month, the group warned airlines not to use Saudi airspace.
Aramco’s headquarters took a direct hit earlier this month. The Houthis damaged the Dhahran complex extensively, and fire spread across several floors, according to people with direct knowledge. The site houses an operations center that helps oversee onshore and offshore oil rigs, refineries, export terminals and thousands of kilometers of pipelines.
Saudi Arabia has answered with a wave of strikes on missile launch sites and has vowed to protect the kingdom. Officials say they have intercepted many of the ballistic missiles fired by the group.
Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesperson, said the group attacked Aramco facilities in the Red Sea city of Yanbu and the Saudi defense ministry in Riyadh. Saudi authorities did not confirm either attack. The Saudi-led coalition said it shot down drones over Riyadh and over Medina, the holy city near Yanbu. On Wednesday, two people were killed after Saudi air defenses intercepted a drone aimed at a facility at Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield, hundreds of kilometers to the southeast, the energy ministry said.
A satellite image taken on July 2, 2026, shows the headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in Dhahran before it was attacked. Pleiades Neo © Airbus DS 2026/Handout via REUTERS.
The fighting has ended the 2022 truce brokered by the United Nations, which had largely stopped cross-border attacks. It has also opened another front in the wider American-Israeli war on Iran. Clashes between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognized government, have intensified since the group pushed toward Bab el-Mandeb, a major shipping chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
Saree said Saudi attacks on Yemen have killed or wounded 562 people since mid-July, when the Houthis imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. The coalition warned at the time that it would respond firmly. He also said the Houthis are rescuing a boat carrying 14 Indians that was attacked off Jabal Zuqar island near the strait, one of the territories the group seized in its advance in September. Saree blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack. Saudi authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
Markets are reacting. Brent crude futures rose $3.06, or 2.81 percent, to $111.88 a barrel by 11:04 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Thursday. Earlier in the session, the price reached $112.55, the highest since May 18. Investors fear that a wider conflict could disrupt supplies from one of the world’s main oil-producing regions. Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index fell 2.5 percent after news of the evacuation, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.
Riyadh is looking for backing. The kingdom has asked allies for broader support in its campaign against the Houthis and for help defending against their missiles and drones. Washington, its strongest ally and longtime security guarantor, has so far resisted calls to become directly involved in the war against the group.
The State Department on Wednesday ordered some diplomats and their family members to leave American missions in Saudi Arabia, and officials said Washington also plans to withdraw family members from several other missions in the region. The United States had recently sent some diplomatic staff back to the region. Many had been evacuated when Iran attacked American facilities after the American-Israeli war on Iran began in late February.
For now, Saudi Aramco evacuates Dhahran headquarters while Houthi clashes continue, and the company has not said when staff will return.
