Yemenupdated 59m ago3 min read
US Orders Non-Emergency Diplomats And Families Out Of Saudi Arabia Amid Houthi Strikes
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U.S. State Department orders non-emergency staff and families to depart Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks. Attacks target civilian infrastructure, including airports and oil facilities, escalating in intensity.
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US orders Saudi exit
The United States ordered non-emergency US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia as Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis carried out deadly strikes, with State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott saying, "Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia." The State Department ordered some diplomats and their families to leave Saudi Arabia as three people were killed in strikes across the country, and it quoted a state department spokesperson saying, "The US Department of State issued an ordered departure for non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia." The ABC News & Headlines report said the State Department order came as an attack on an airport in Dammam killed at least one person and injured eight others, while two people were killed in a drone attack on an oil field.
A strike at the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam killed one person and left eight people injured, with injuries ranging from "minor to serious". The Houthis responded to Saudi strikes by launching missiles and drones at Saudi airports, energy facilities and military bases in Saudi Arabia.
Competing accounts of scope
The ABC News & Headlines report said diplomatic sources told AFP that US missions in other Gulf states would also be ordering family members to leave, naming the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain, while Pigott stressed the order was for Saudi Arabia only. The Guardian reported that Pigott described reports of further withdrawals as "inaccurate" and stressed that the state department order was for the departure of staff and their families from Saudi Arabia only, even as the announcement came as some media reported other Gulf-family withdrawals. The https:// report said Pigott announced the ordered departure in a post on X, writing that it applied to “non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only,” and it said the order covered the US Embassy in Riyadh and the US consulates in the kingdom.
The https:// report also said four US officials told Reuters that US missions in other Gulf states would also be ordering family members to leave, while it said the State Department had not confirmed that and none of the four officials was identified by name or post. The BBC said the spokesperson warned the hostilities "have the potential to escalate rapidly," as the Houthis launched missiles and drones at Saudi airports and critical infrastructure.
Yemen conflict and regional risk
The BBC said Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began when the Houthis ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, and it said conflicts escalated in 2015 after a Saudi-led military coalition tried to restore the government's rule. An informal ceasefire had been in place for the past four years but it unravelled in July after the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea. The ABC News & Headlines report said the US previously ordered non-essential staff to leave the Gulf ahead of the start of its war against Iran in late February and again in July, before US President Donald Trump called off a new wave of strikes.
The https:// report said the order sits on top of earlier restrictions, including that on October 7 the US barred its staff from travelling within 20 miles of the Yemeni border. The state department highlighted attacks on “civilian airports and other critical infrastructure” by the Iranian-supported Houthis in Yemen as the reason for the drawdown, with the embassy in Riyadh operating with only a skeleton staff for months.
