Washington has ordered non-essential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, the State Department said on Wednesday, as the kingdom comes under sustained deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
In June, a four-year-old truce in Yemen’s civil war collapsed, reviving the conflict that dates back to 2014. The Saudi-led coalition has backed the internationally recognised government since 2015. It did not say who launched the drone aimed at Shaybah oil field near the UAE border.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott subsequently confirmed the order in a post on X, but said it applied to “non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only”. “The attempted attack resulted in the deaths of two individuals, a Filipino and a Nepali, and injuries to two others,” the ministry said in a statement. “A few minutes ago, the sound of several explosions was heard in the Karpan area of Sirik, in Hormozgan Province,” the official IRNA news agency said.
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. On Wednesday, the Saudi energy ministry said that falling debris from the successful interception of a drone targeting an oil facility killed two people and injured a further two. Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen reported intercepting six drones.
