US Orders Diplomat Families to Leave Saudi Arabia

The US State Department on Wednesday ordered non-emergency government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, pointing to attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis. The order covers the kingdom alone. American missions elsewhere in the region, including in Israel, fall outside it.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott announced the move on X. He wrote that the department had issued an ordered departure for non-emergency staff and relatives "in Saudi Arabia only." An ordered departure is mandatory. Designated personnel and eligible family members must relocate, while essential embassy operations generally carry on.

For Americans in Israel, the most recent guidance came on Sunday. That day, US missions in 12 Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, told citizens to exercise heightened vigilance. As part of the same wave of alerts, the US embassy in Jerusalem urged Americans to prepare for flight cancellations and airspace closures. The warnings said Houthi strikes on Saudi airports and infrastructure could spread beyond the kingdom, and that Iran and its allied groups might target US interests worldwide. ABC News reported that embassies in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were among those that issued coordinated warnings.

Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Shutterstock / Teo K)

Pigott laid out the reasoning for the Saudi order:

"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."

Reuters had reported, citing four US officials, that family members at American missions in other Gulf states would also be ordered out. Pigott rejected that account. "This is inaccurate," he wrote, and said nothing about any mission beyond Saudi Arabia. "The safety and security of Department personnel and their families remain our highest priority, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to protect and support them," he added.

The order came on a deadly day inside the kingdom. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said one person was killed and eight were wounded in a strike on Dammam's King Fahd International Airport. Earlier, Saudi air defenses brought down a drone aimed at a Saudi Aramco facility at the Shaybah oilfield. According to the energy ministry, two people died in that incident.

On Wednesday the US embassy in Riyadh also warned in a security alert that the Houthis could carry out more attacks on Saudi Arabia. It cited recent deadly strikes, including one on Riyadh's airport. Ynet reported that Saudi-led coalition forces intercepted five Houthi drones aimed at Medina the same day. The Houthis control Sanaa, Yemen's capital, along with large parts of the country's north.

The order reverses part of a recent return. Washington pulled personnel from several embassies after US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28. In recent months it had sent some diplomatic staff back to the region.