Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi rebels said they had launched new attacks on Saudi oil facilities and airports, as the United States ordered some of its diplomats and their families to leave Saudi Arabia amid what The Guardian described as a barrage of near-daily attacks on the kingdom.1,3
The group's spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the Houthis had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh oil refinery, crude oil pumping stations and the East-West Pipeline. He also said the group had targeted King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, an airport in Najran and an airbase in Khamis Mushait. France 24 reported the claims on Saturday, while The Guardian reported that the Houthis had said on Thursday that they had launched attacks on Saudi Arabia's defence ministry in Riyadh, Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.1,3
There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities, and it was not immediately clear whether the reported attacks had hit their targets in the kingdom or been intercepted. The Saudi-led coalition said it had destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis toward Yanbu and Taif on Saturday. In Yemen, the Saudi-backed government said the group had also fired three ballistic missiles at coast guard sites in the port city of Aden.1
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced that two people had been killed in overnight attacks on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, on the Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar. Eight people were injured and there was material damage to the airport, according to officials. The global flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said flights had been diverted away from the airport. Separately, the Saudi energy ministry said falling debris from the successful interception of a drone targeting an oil facility in the country's south-east had killed two people and injured two others.3
Essential workers at Saudi Aramco's headquarters in the east of the country were told to evacuate on Thursday, two sources told Agence France-Presse, after their non-essential colleagues had been told to work from home since last week. The Houthis' claims about Aramco facilities and the Dammam airport were made the same day, according to The Guardian's account.3
The renewed fighting has broken down a 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely halted cross-border attacks between the Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen's internationally recognised government, and the Houthis, who control the capital, Sanaa. France 24 said the escalation has opened another front in the US-Israeli war on Iran. Saudi Arabia has faced a succession of deadly attacks from the Houthis over recent weeks, including a strike on Riyadh's international airport earlier this month.1,3
The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and the families of US government employees to leave Saudi Arabia. The order covers the embassy in Riyadh and its satellite consulates. Attacks on "civilian airports and other critical infrastructure" by the Iranian-supported Houthis were highlighted as the reason for the drawdown. The embassy had been badly damaged at the start of the US war on Iran and had been operating with only a skeleton staff for months, although in recent weeks some diplomats had returned.3
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said: "The safety and security of department personnel and their families remain our highest priority." In a statement on Wednesday, Pigott described reports of further withdrawals as "inaccurate" and said the order was for the departure of staff and their families from Saudi Arabia only. Media outlets including NBC and AFP had reported that families of US embassy personnel were also being withdrawn from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain.3
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was developing plans to restart the war on Iran, and that the United States and Israel had developed plans for a "short but intensive operation" after the defense secretary, Peter Hegseth, travelled to Israel for meetings with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. President Trump has publicly said he does not intend to restart the war before the 3 November elections. A spokesperson for US Central Command told NBC that service members were regularly moved to "optimize mission readiness."3
Separately, the Houthis said on Thursday that they were rescuing a boat carrying 14 Indians that had been attacked near Jabal Zuqar island, close to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack. Riyadh did not respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters. On Friday, the Indian embassy in Yemen said in a post on X: "Reports suggest that all 14 Indian nationals are safe and located around Hodeidah in Yemen. We will continue to work for ensuring their well being."4
