U.S. orders some diplomats out of Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks

2:48 Riyadh airport attack kills at least 12, strands Saudi-bound passengers

The U.S. State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members to depart from its missions in Saudi Arabia and is planning to move out family members from a number of other U.S. missions in the Gulf, U.S. officials told Reuters.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a post on X that the department ordered the departure of “non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only” amid attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen on civilian targets in the country.

Washington had returned some diplomatic personnel to the region in recent months after many were pulled out when Tehran launched retaliatory attacks on U.S. facilities after the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February.

“Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions,” Pigott said.

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Four US officials told Reuters that U.S. missions in other Gulf states would also be ordering family members to leave. Pigott did not address changes to other missions outside Saudi Arabia.

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A series of previous alerts for Saudi Arabia issued over the past several days have used almost identical language and noted that U.S. government personnel need special permission to use any Saudi airport. The Houthis have routinely targeted Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, and it had been closed since Oct. 10 following a severe attack.

But earlier Wednesday, aircraft from a limited number of Saudi airlines took off and landed at the airport, two days after Saudi aviation authorities notified airlines that they could resume operations with prior permission.

Still, major carriers like Lufthansa and Air France have canceled flights to Riyadh through mid-November. Saudi airlines, including Saudia and FlyNas, were among those operating flights Wednesday.

The Houthis have acknowledged attacking the airport, claiming without evidence that Saudi Arabia provided military equipment to government forces through the facility.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry told the Associated Press on Wednesday that debris from an intercepted drone killed two people and injured two others at an Aramco-operated oil field in the country’s southeast.

The ministry said the two people killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals.

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The falling debris also sparked a fire in a contractor’s vehicle at the Shaybah oil field, the ministry said in a statement.

The U.S. embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday about possible further attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia, after recent deadly attacks including on Riyadh’s airport.