Video verified by the BBC and CNN shows heavier damage to Riyadh's Aramco Tower than Saudi Arabia's official account suggested, with windows blown out across several floors of the skyscraper in the capital's King Abdullah Financial District. At least one floor appears to have been badly hit by a missile or drone strike, CNN reported.

Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said the building suffered only minor damage from falling shrapnel after an attempted attack on Sunday, and that no one was killed or injured. A Saudi Press Agency statement, citing an energy ministry source, said an administrative building belonging to Aramco had been subjected to an attempted attack and the incident resulted in falling shrapnel that caused minor damage.

What the footage shows

Footage authenticated by BBC Verify shows more extensive damage, with at least one floor appearing badly hit and windows on more than one level shattered. Video circulating on social media and verified by CNN shows damage to several floors, with windows blown out. A Reuters witness reported hearing multiple loud booms across the capital before seeing blown-out windows across several floors of one of the tallest buildings in the district.

It is not yet clear whether the damage was caused by falling debris from an intercepted missile or by a direct hit. No agency has established which, and Saudi authorities have not commented further on the discrepancy between the official account and the footage.

Houthis claim the strike

The Houthis, who claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, said they had targeted Riyadh's financial district, Riyadh airport and Aramco oil storage facilities in retaliation for Saudi strikes on a village and a market in Yemen. A Houthi statement carried by the group's Saba news agency said it had targeted Riyadh's business zone, without naming the Aramco Tower directly.

The Saudi-led coalition said its air defences intercepted two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles targeting Riyadh and other regions early on Sunday. The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone strikes on Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities since hostilities with the kingdom resumed in July, and Saudi Arabia has responded with airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The tension did not end on Sunday. Saudi civil defence authorities raised a fresh alert in Riyadh on Monday morning and said minutes later that the danger had passed, Reuters reported, without saying what prompted it. Meanwhile the Houthi-run health ministry said at least 40 people were killed in Saudi strikes near Sanaa on Saturday, a toll Reuters said it could not independently verify. The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since the fighting intensified this year, after a 2022 truce that had largely held for years collapsed.