Four US officials told Reuters that US missions in other Gulf states would also be ordering family members to leave. Pigott did not address changes to other missions outside Saudi Arabia.
The latest withdrawals follow an escalation of the fighting in Yemen, opening another front in the regional conflict triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran. The wider conflict has snarled global energy trade and hurt Gulf economies.
After the departure order, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority reported an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam that killed one person and injured eight others. Earlier in the day, two people were killed after Saudi air defences intercepted a drone that was attempting to hit a facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield, the energy ministry said.
The US embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday (Oct 21) about possible further attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia, after recent deadly strikes including on Riyadh’s airport.
The embassy and a CIA station hosted there came under attack by drones in early March, as Iran began launching attacks across the region.
