Washington orders US embassy staff, families to leave Saudi Arabia

The United States has instructed its embassy staff and their families to vacate Saudi Arabia, as reported by the State Department on Wednesday. This move follows a series of deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against the kingdom. The order extends to families of embassy personnel in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain, which have all been targeted by Iran during the ongoing Middle East conflict.

A US State Department spokesman confirmed the order via X, emphasizing that the decision is due to the security threats posed by the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, particularly at airports. The escalating violence in Saudi Arabia has, in the past month, seen a number of Houthi attacks, including a significant strike on Riyadh's international airport, the most severe in years.

The Saudi energy ministry reported that debris from a drone successfully intercepted by the kingdom killed two individuals and injured two others. Earlier, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen intercepted six drones. The four-year stalemate in Yemen's civil war saw a collapse of a truce in June, rekindling the conflict that began in late February, when the US and Israel targeted Iran, resulting in the death of Iran's supreme leader and several top military commanders.

Iran has retaliated by attempting to blockade the strategically vital Hormuz Strait, demanding permission for all ships to pass through. In response, the US has imposed a counterblockade on Iranian ports and ships.