US orders some diplomats to leave Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks
The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and the families of government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, which is facing near-daily attacks by Yemen's Houthis. At least three people were killed at an airport and an oilfield on Wednesday evening.
The US State Department, which runs American foreign affairs and diplomacy, has ordered some of its diplomats and the families of US government employees to leave Saudi Arabia. It cited attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure. On Wednesday evening, 22 October, at least three people were killed in such attacks at an airport and an oil facility.
Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the safety and security of personnel and their families remain its highest priority. The order covers the embassy in Riyadh and its satellite consulates. The embassy was badly damaged at the start of the US war on Iran and operated with a skeleton staff for months, although some diplomats had returned in recent weeks.
Attacks on an airport and an oil facility
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said one Saudi resident was killed in attacks on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, on the Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar. Eight people were injured and the airport suffered some material damage. Flightradar24 reported that flights were diverted away from it.
Separately, debris from a drone that was intercepted while targeting an oil facility in the country's south-east killed two people and injured two more, the Saudi energy ministry said. The Houthis did not immediately claim either attack, but airports and oil facilities have been main targets of their recent wave of missile and projectile strikes. An earlier strike on Riyadh's international airport was the deadliest in the kingdom in years.
Reports of wider withdrawals and Iran war plans
NBC and AFP reported that families of embassy staff were also being withdrawn from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain. Pigott called those reports inaccurate and stressed the order applies only to Saudi Arabia. The New York Times, meanwhile, reported that the Trump administration is developing plans to restart the war on Iran; defense secretary Peter Hegseth met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week. Trump has said publicly that he does not intend to restart the war before the 3 November elections.
