Nov 8 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s civil defence on Sunday lifted alerts in several areas of the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province, including Dhahran, home to the headquarters of oil major Saudi Aramco, shortly after warning of potential danger.
The all-clear also applies to Dammam, Abqaiq and Al-Ahsa governorate, the civil defence said.
The Eastern Province contains the majority of the kingdom’s oil and gas reserves as well as Saudi Aramco’s headquarters, which suffered extensive damage in an attack in October.
Shortly after the all-clear, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Yemeni Iran-allied Houthi group towards the Eastern region.
The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi airports, ports and oil installations, turning US ally Saudi Arabia into a pressure point in a war that began with the US and Israel attacking Iran in February.
(Reporting by Yomna Ehab; Editing by Sonali Paul and Christopher Cushing)
