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The State Department has ordered nonemergency US government employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, as the Iran-backed Houthis keep hitting airports and oil sites across the kingdom.
Getting into it: State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced the order Wednesday, saying it applies to “Saudi Arabia only,” and rejecting reports that it extended to other Gulf states. Reuters, citing four US officials, reported that other Gulf missions would also be sending families out, and AFP reported that embassy staff in the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain were told to send their families home. CBS News reported those embassies have instead moved to “restricted operations,” a status that trims staff and services while keeping the doors open, and that the US military has been pulling some personnel out of the region without announcing it.
The US Embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert warning Americans of possible attacks on airports, saying US government staff now need special approval to use any Saudi airport. Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport remains closed after a Houthi strike earlier this month killed 12 people, including one American, and injured more than 300. The strikes haven’t let up. Saudi air defenses downed at least 16 drones over Wednesday and Thursday, but debris from one aimed at Aramco’s Shaybah oil field killed two foreign workers. Another attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday killed two people and injured eight, and the Houthis claimed responsibility for both.
“Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions,” Pigott said. Asked about the evacuation reports, Trump said, “I don’t know that they are. You are telling me something, I wouldn’t know that.”
The US has also stepped up intelligence and targeting support for Saudi Arabia, but Trump has so far decided against striking the Houthis despite Saudi requests for more offensive help, saying earlier this month that the US “may” get involved. The UK said Tuesday it will deploy fighter jets to help defend Saudi Arabia, and Egypt has pledged “all necessary and possible forms of support.”
This all comes as the Houthis are fighting the Saudi-backed Yemeni government while sitting next to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow oil shipping lane that carries extra weight now that the Iran war has choked off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
