Yemen’s Houthis said on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, that a ballistic missile hit Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery, the kingdom’s largest, and set part of the complex on fire. Saudi authorities did not confirm a strike on the refinery. The claim came a day after Egypt’s parliament authorized President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to send military support to Saudi Arabia if Riyadh asks for it.
Taken together, the two developments widen a conflict that has already spread from Yemen to Saudi oil sites, airports and the Red Sea, eight months after the Iran war began in February.
What the Houthis claim about the Ras Tanura refinery
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the missile caused a fire at the Ras Tanura complex on the Gulf coast, which also includes a tanker-loading terminal and is located west of the Strait of Hormuz Unverified claim, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree (Houthi movement). The group also said it had attacked two military transport jets at Najran Airport, an airbase in Khamis Mushait, the Saudi Defense Ministry building in Riyadh and Abha airport, and that it repelled an advance by Saudi-backed forces near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait Unverified claim, Houthi military statements (Houthi movement). Reuters reported no immediate Saudi confirmation of any of those attacks.
Bloomberg News, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, reported that Saudi Arabia contained a fire near the Ras Tanura terminal during the early hours of Tuesday, close to facilities operated by state oil company Saudi Aramco. The extent of the damage was not clear, and Aramco and the Energy Ministry did not respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment. That report describes a fire near the terminal; it does not establish that a missile struck the refinery itself.
Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched toward the kingdom’s eastern region on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. In Riyadh, civil defense authorities briefly sounded an air raid alert, and the Saudi Civil Defense said falling debris from the interception of two ballistic missiles damaged a building, a construction site and a vehicle. The Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed two Houthi missiles aimed at the capital.
Why Ras Tanura matters for oil markets
Ras Tanura can process about 550,000 barrels a day and was shut for a period early in the Iran war as a precaution, Reuters reported. Nearly all Saudi crude exports leave through two ports: Ras Tanura on the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea. The Houthis have attacked both before.
When fighting began in February, Aramco shifted most exports to its Red Sea coast because Iran blocked much of the traffic through Hormuz, Bloomberg reported. In recent weeks it has moved more crude back through the Gulf as tanker traffic through the strait recovered toward prewar levels and Houthi threats to Red Sea shipping grew. Brent crude reversed earlier losses on Tuesday and traded near $116 a barrel in London, up about 13% for the month. Our earlier coverage tracked Strait of Hormuz tanker attacks that pushed Brent above $117.
Egypt’s parliament clears military support for Saudi Arabia
Egypt’s House of Representatives voted on Monday, Oct. 26, to let el-Sisi “undertake necessary” measures to help Saudi Arabia defend itself if Riyadh requests assistance, according to a parliamentary statement shared with Reuters. The chamber said the decision passed with the two-thirds majority Egypt’s constitution requires before troops can be sent on combat missions abroad, Euronews reported. The statement did not say what help Egypt would provide or announce any deployment.
El-Sisi first asked for the mandate on Oct. 17. Lawmakers met behind closed doors on Oct. 18 and 19 before postponing the vote, and Deputy Speaker Assem El-Gazzar said nearly 500 members asked to speak. The Egyptian Social Democratic Party told its members to abstain, saying parliament had not been told what troops would do, how long they would stay or what the mission would cost. El-Sisi has said any Egyptian role would be limited to defending Saudi territory and borders, not attacking Yemen. Former assistant foreign minister Hussein Haridy told Al Jazeera the mission would be “purely defensive.”
Egypt has its own stake in the fighting. Houthi attacks near the Bab el-Mandeb, the southern gateway to the Suez Canal, have cut canal revenue. Egypt joined the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen in 2015, mostly with naval forces, and has not made a large foreign ground deployment since the 1991 Gulf War. Egypt has also said it is considering joining a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, the arrangement behind Turkey’s request for a mandate to send troops to Saudi Arabia.
Diplomacy runs alongside the strikes
On Oct. 17, Yahya al-Raei, speaker of the Houthi-controlled parliament in Sanaa, warned Egypt that military involvement would endanger its own security, according to Euronews Unverified claim, Houthi parliament speaker Yahya al-Raei (Houthi movement). Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported Saudi strikes on the Yemeni port city of Mocha on Tuesday Unverified claim, Al-Masirah (Houthi-run), with no immediate Saudi confirmation.
The vote in Cairo came as Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Monday. Those talks ended without a deal, as we reported in our account of the Tehran talks with Mecca Pact nations. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who met el-Sisi in Cairo on Monday, urged “maximum restraint” and warned that further fighting could spiral out of control. The fighting has already shattered a 2022 U.N.-brokered truce between the coalition and the Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital.
Sources
- Reuters via Al-Monitor: Yemen’s Houthis say they hit Saudi Ras Tanura oil refinery
- Bloomberg via The Edge: Aramco contains fire near Ras Tanura oil hub after attack
- Euronews: Egypt’s parliament approves military support for Saudi Arabia
- Al Jazeera: Egyptian parliament authorises military aid for Saudi Arabia
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