Aramco asked its employees to evacuate its headquarters in Dhahran

Riyadh - Ofoq News - Six informed sources told Reuters on Thursday that the giant oil company Saudi Aramco asked its employees to evacuate its main headquarters in Dhahran, in light of the escalation of fighting between the largest oil exporter in the world and the Yemeni Houthi group allied with Iran.

Clashes have been raging between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition, which supports the internationally recognized Yemeni government, since the group advanced towards the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital shipping lane at the entrance to the Red Sea.

The directives for employees to evacuate the building and work remotely come after a series of attacks launched by the Houthis on the Kingdom, targeting company facilities and Saudi airports. Aramco has not yet responded to a request for comment regarding this evacuation, which is the first of its kind since the start of the Iran war.

The reason for the evacuation is not yet clear.

According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, the main index of the Saudi market fell 2.5 percent today, Thursday, in the wake of the news related to Aramco. Oil prices rose to their highest levels since May, driven by fears of the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and its impact on oil supplies from the region, which is a major exporter of crude in the world.

Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for the Houthi group, said in a speech broadcast on television that the group launched attacks targeting Aramco facilities in the city of Yanbu overlooking the Red Sea, in addition to the headquarters of the Saudi Ministry of Defense in the capital, Riyadh.

There has been no Saudi confirmation yet regarding the attacks in Riyadh and Yanbu.

On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition announced the interception of drones over Riyadh and Medina, which are located near Yanbu.