The State Department has ordered non-emergency U.S. staff and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, following a recent escalation in attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The rebel group has “increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Wednesday on social media site X.
He denied a report that the government was preparing to order the departure of personnel and family members from other Persian Gulf countries.
The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh was among several U.S. facilities hit during the early weeks of the Iran war, leading to the evacuation of scores of diplomats across the region.
The embassy had been operating with a skeleton staff in the months since, although some diplomats had returned, according to the Associated Press. The State Department referred to Pigott’s X post in response to a request for comment.
The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia has released security alerts in recent days warning of the potential for attacks on airports and flight disruption in the country, and advising “extreme caution” for people using the country’s airports.
The State Department’s decision to withdraw staff follows a number of attacks on travel and infrastructure in recent weeks.
Saudi Arabia’s aviation authority confirmed in a statement posted on social media Thursday that a second person had died following an attack on the King Fahd International Airport in the eastern city of Dammam the previous day, in which eight others were injured.
Houthi spokesman Nasr al-Din Amer shared a statement on social media Thursday claiming several drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia over the past 48 hours, including the Dammam airport attack.
The militant group has previously warned airlines against using Saudi airspace. The group also claimed responsibility for a major attack on Saudi Arabia’s international airport in Riyadh on Oct. 10 that killed 13 people — including an American — and injured hundreds more.
Separately on Wednesday, the Saudi Energy Ministry said two people were killed by falling debris after air defense intercepted a drone targeting an oil field near the border with the United Arab Emirates. The Houthis do not appear to have commented on the incident.
The Houthis’ growing attacks on Saudi Arabia follow the breakdown this year of a ceasefire that had largely contained the war in Yemen since 2022.
Riyadh, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognized government, has launched a campaign to confront the Houthis’ recent and rapid advances along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, while the Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks toward Saudi Arabia.
Analysts say the Saudis and Houthis see no off-ramp in the war, which has become the most volatile front in the regional conflagration set off when the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February.
Amid the escalation, the Britain announced this week it would send fighter jets to defend cities and national infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
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