The United States has ordered some non-emergency diplomatic personnel and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia following a series of attacks on civilian targets that killed at least three people and injured eight, according to Reuters.
US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced the decision in a post on social media platform X, citing escalating attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen against Saudi Arabia.
Pigott said the Houthis had significantly increased hostile activities against the kingdom, targeting civilian airports and other critical infrastructure. The attacks have caused civilian casualties and seriously disrupted air traffic, he added.
US officials also told Reuters that Washington was planning to order the departure of family members from several other US diplomatic missions across the Gulf region. Pigott did not comment on possible changes at missions outside Saudi Arabia.
The evacuation order came shortly after Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority reported that a Houthi attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam had killed one person and injured eight others.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said the kingdom’s air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed a drone attempting to strike a facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field. Two people were killed in that incident, the ministry said.
The move underscores growing security concerns in the Gulf as attacks on civilian infrastructure and strategic energy facilities raise the risk of further regional escalation.
COMMENTS