US orders some diplomats out of Saudi Arabia after deadly attacks on Dammam airport and oilfield
The US State Department has ordered non-emergency government employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia as Houthi attacks on the kingdom escalate, the BBC reported. Saudi authorities said an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday evening killed two people and injured eight, and debris from a drone intercepted near the Shaybah oilfield killed two more, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
The airport attack: Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said King Fahd International Airport in Dammam was targeted on the evening of Wednesday, October 21, and that eight people were injured, with injuries ranging from minor to critical. GACA first reported one death, then said on Thursday that the toll had risen to two, a Saudi national and an Indian resident, Al Jazeera reported. Officials have not said who carried out the attack, according to the BBC.
The oilfield: Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said two people were killed when air defences intercepted a drone trying to hit a facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield, Al Jazeera reported. The ministry did not say who launched the drone, the BBC reported. India’s embassy said one Indian national was injured in an attack at Shaybah, according to The Economic Times.
The US order: “The US Department of State issued an ordered departure for non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia,” a State Department spokesperson said, warning that “the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly,” the BBC reported. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the order applies only to Saudi Arabia, Xinhua reported. US officials told Reuters there were also plans to withdraw family members from some other US missions in the region, according to Al Jazeera.
The wider fight: Conflict between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia has been rising for the past month, with Houthi missiles and drones aimed at Saudi airports, energy sites and military bases, the BBC reported. An informal ceasefire held for about four years but unravelled in July, according to the BBC. Saudi authorities said an October 10 attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport killed 12 people, Al Jazeera reported.
What is still unknown: Casualty figures come from Saudi authorities and have not been independently confirmed. No group had claimed the Dammam attack in the reports we reviewed.