Key Takeaways
- Washington has ordered non-essential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia.
- The move comes as Saudi Arabia faces sustained attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
- The US State Department confirmed the order, citing safety and security concerns.
The US State Department has ordered non-essential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, following a series of deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, according to a statement from the department.
In a post on X, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott confirmed the order, stating that it applies to 'non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only'.
The decision follows a diplomatic source’s report to AFP that 'all American staff and their families have been ordered to depart from the US embassy' in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain.
The attacks on Saudi Arabia have escalated in recent months, with the kingdom coming under near-daily strikes, including a deadly strike on Riyadh’s international airport.
On Wednesday, the Saudi energy ministry reported that falling debris from the interception of a drone targeting an oil facility killed two people and injured two others.
The ministry stated, 'The attempted attack resulted in the deaths of two individuals, a Filipino and a Nepali, and injuries to two others.'
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen reported intercepting six drones on the same day, indicating the ongoing conflict.
The collapse of a four-year-old truce in Yemen’s civil war in June has reignited the conflict, which dates back to 2014, with the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government since 2015.
The US previously ordered non-essential staff to leave the Gulf ahead of the start of its war against Iran and again in July before US President Donald Trump called off a new wave of strikes.
Late on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions in the southern Hormozgan province overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, breaking a spell of relative calm.
The conflict began in late February, when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader and senior military commanders.
Iran has attempted to blockade the strategic waterway, demanding all ships seek its authorisation to cross. In peacetime, the Hormuz strait carried around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies.
