Two Killed at Dammam Airport as US Orders Diplomats Out
Saudi Arabia’s aviation regulator says two people were killed and eight injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport on Wednesday evening. Washington has ordered non-emergency staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia. Brent crude rose about 3% to around $112 a barrel.
An ordered departure is mandatory rather than advisory, and its scope is narrower than first reported: a State Department spokesman said it covers Saudi Arabia only, and called reports of similar withdrawals from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain “inaccurate”. His stated reason was that Houthi attacks on civilian airports and infrastructure “have the potential to escalate rapidly”. The dead at Dammam were a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident; the toll rose from one overnight. Notably, the regulator did not say what kind of attack it was and the Houthis have not claimed it. Saudi authorities put the death toll from attacks on the kingdom’s airports since the start of October at 21, and said four more drones were intercepted on Wednesday night. A drone at the Shaybah oilfield killed two contractors, from the Philippines and Nepal. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed their navy struck four vessels over alleged illegal oil transfers and that three more hit mines west of Hormuz; no vessels were named and nobody independent has verified it. They also warned that if the trend continues “the conflict will extend to” American bases in the region.