Aramco facility damaged in Riyadh as Saudi Arabia intercepts missiles

Two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles were intercepted over the Saudi capital and other regions on Sunday morning, sending debris into the King Abdullah Financial District and damaging a building owned by Saudi Aramco. The state energy ministry reported no casualties at the facility. The Saudi-led coalition accused the Iran-backed Houthis of launching the weapons. Witnesses in Riyadh described a loud explosion and visible damage to the Aramco structure. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

The conflict has intensified in recent days following airstrikes on the Yemeni village of al-Shariya, located east of the capital Sanaa. Houthi health authorities updated the death toll from those strikes to 44 people on Sunday. The victims included 21 children and 10 women. Anees al-Asbahi, the spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, stated that 40 others were wounded, including eight children and nine women. He blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack, which he said occurred during a major escalation in fighting that has killed hundreds in Yemen and dozens in Saudi Arabia. Rescue teams continued searching the area for missing persons.

The Houthi military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed the group hit Riyadh's financial district in response to the recent strikes on a village and a market in Yemen. He said those attacks left dozens dead or wounded. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates National Guard reported rescuing 22 crew members of Arab nationality from a cargo ship that caught fire in the Sea of Oman. The guard said the crew was in stable condition but did not name the vessel or identify the cause of the fire. A British maritime security monitor reported a tanker fire northwest of Khasab, Oman, on Saturday, though it remained unclear if this was the same incident.

In Israel, President Isaac Herzog formally granted opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a new government on Sunday evening. Eisenkot, a former military chief, will face complex coalition negotiations in his effort to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving prime minister. The move follows elections in a deeply divided nation scarred by the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and subsequent multifront wars. At least four people, including three children, died when a sandstone slab collapsed onto tents in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on Sunday evening. Health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs and Nasser hospitals confirmed the deaths. Torrential rains in the area were believed to have contributed to the collapse.

U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House on Monday. In a Sunday phone interview with CNN, Trump said it is highly unlikely the United States will resume strikes on Iran if negotiations yield a strong agreement. He noted, however, that the U.S. has identified infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges, for potential military action. A drone attack late Sunday took the Khor Mor gas field offline in northern Iraq. The facility is one of the region's most productive natural gas sources and its output fuels power plants. No casualties were reported, and widespread power outages followed the strike. No group claimed immediate responsibility.

Residents on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz reported hearing several explosions late Sunday evening. Iranian state media reported the sounds, though no official confirmation of the cause has emerged. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Florida that the United States will make defensive actions if there is a clear and present threat to shipping or U.S. forces. In Iran, state television reported that three men were hanged in Karaj on Sunday. They were convicted of armed riot, damage to public properties, and cooperation with the United States and Israel during January's anti-government protests. Iran has hanged more than two dozen people on similar charges. The U.S. State Department declared Ibrahim Charara, Lebanon's consul general in Detroit, persona non grata. The department cited social media posts from up to five years ago that celebrated the 1983 Hezbollah attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut.