US ORDERS EMBASSY STAFF FAMILIES OUT OF SAUDI ARABIA AMID HOUTHI ATTACKS

The United States has ordered non-essential embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia amid sustained deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the US State Department said on Wednesday.

The directive followed reports from a diplomatic source that all American embassy personnel and their families had been instructed to depart the Gulf kingdom.

The source also said families of embassy staff had been ordered to leave the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain, countries that have come under Iranian attacks during the ongoing Middle East conflict.

However, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott clarified in a post on X that the evacuation order applied only to non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia.

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He said the decision was linked to Houthi attacks on the kingdom, including strikes targeting airports, adding that the safety and security of American personnel and their families remained the department’s top priority.

Saudi Arabia has faced near-daily attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis this month, including a strike on Riyadh’s international airport, described as the kingdom’s deadliest attack in years, as hostilities with the group intensify.

On Wednesday, the Saudi Energy Ministry reported that falling debris from the successful interception of a drone targeting an oil facility had killed two people and injured two others.

The ministry identified the deceased as a Filipino and a Nepali national but did not disclose who launched the drone aimed at the Shaybah oil field near the United Arab Emirates border.

Earlier that day, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it had intercepted six drones.

The latest escalation follows the collapse in June of a four-year truce in Yemen’s civil war, reigniting a conflict that began in 2014. Saudi Arabia has supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government through a Saudi-led coalition since 2015.

The United States had previously ordered non-essential personnel to leave the Gulf before launching its war against Iran and again in July, ahead of a planned new wave of strikes that President Donald Trump later called off.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported explosions in the southern Hormozgan province, which overlooks the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, late on Wednesday, ending a period of relative calm.

The official IRNA news agency reported that several explosions were heard in the Karpan area of Sirik but said local sources had yet to establish their cause.

The conflict began in late February when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader and senior military commanders.

In retaliation, Iran has attempted to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, demanding that ships obtain its authorisation before passing through the waterway. During peacetime, the strait carries approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies.

The United States has responded by imposing a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and ships.