US orders some staff and families to leave Saudi Arabia amid attacks

The US State Department has ordered non-emergency government employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia as attacks on airports and energy facilities intensify. The order covers staff at the US embassy in Riyadh and its consulates; it is not an instruction for all Americans in the country to leave.

Saudi officials said two people were killed by debris from a drone intercepted near the Shaybah oilfield on Wednesday. A strike at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam killed one person and injured eight, they said. Saudi officials had not identified who launched the drone towards Shaybah, and had given no details of the Dammam attack.

The departure order follows deadly attacks at Riyadh’s international airport earlier this month. The State Department blamed Iran-backed Houthi forces for attacks on civilian airports and other infrastructure, and warned that the hostilities could escalate rapidly.

The confirmed order applies only to Saudi Arabia. Reuters reported, citing four unnamed US officials, that family members at American missions in other Gulf states could also be ordered to leave. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott called reports of a wider departure plan inaccurate. The department said other Gulf embassies would make temporary staffing changes, according to the Associated Press, but that is not an order for their staff to depart.