The Kingdom Center skyscraper in Riyadh has asked its employees to work from home due to possible attacks by Yemen’s Houthirebels.
The 99-story tower is one of the tallest buildings in Saudi Arabia.
Kingdom Center has made working from home “mandatory” for no reason. The new decree comes into force immediately and will remain in force until further notice, building management told tenants, AFP reported.
The building’s tenants include major financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, as well as wealth management company Merril Lynch.
At the foot of the building is a shopping center, which will remain open for the time being.
Attacks are increasing
Studies at schools in and around Riyadh, the Saudi capital, will take place online for a second week, with the city’s King Khalid International Airport still closed after a Houthi attack killed 13 people.
The conflict between the Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi Islamist group has continued to escalate, with the coalition reporting its first military deaths since the escalation began.
Two helicopter pilots were killed near the Yemeni border due to a “technical malfunction”, the coalition said, with the Houthis earlier announcing the downing of an Apache helicopter “belonging to the Saudi enemy”, the group said.
The conflict resumes
On the Saudi side, two drones were intercepted over Riyadh overnight, and a third was shot down over the country’s eastern province, an area known to be rich in oil, according to the country’s authorities.
Two ballistic missiles were also intercepted in southern Saudi Arabia.
The two sides have clashed to varying degrees over the past decade. Following a four-year ceasefire, the conflict between the two sides escalated after Yemen-based Islamist militias took control of strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.
The Houthis have targeted oil installations, tankers and Riyadh’s international airport, with the coalition carrying out strikes on Houthi areas.
Editing: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
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