The United States has ordered non-emergency government personnel and their families to leave Saudi Arabia amid an escalating air war and sustained Houthi attacks against civilian airports and critical energy infrastructure.
The order issued by the State Department marks a significant diplomatic drawdown following a series of deadly strikes across the kingdom. Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott stated that 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.
Four U.S. officials noted that U.S. missions in other Gulf states would also be ordering family members to leave, while a diplomatic source in the Middle East reported that families of U.S. embassy personnel were being withdrawn in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain.
This is inaccurate. The U.S. Department of State issued an ordered departure for non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only.Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on… https://t.co/yNrCwDcfIg
While initial reports suggested broader regional evacuations, Pigott clarified in a post on X that the mandatory departure order applies specifically to personnel and dependents in Saudi Arabia. Several other diplomatic missions in the region have instead adjusted to a restricted operations
status introduced earlier amid flare-ups in the wider conflict. Following recent missile and UAV strikes on airports, American government personnel stationed in the kingdom must obtain explicit clearance from the Chief of Mission to utilize any Saudi Arabian airport.
Houthi Missile Strikes Kill People at Saudi Airports
The security crisis escalated sharply after a Houthi missile struck the departure terminal of Riyadh’s international airport, killing 13 people and wounding 300. Amid ongoing regional threats originating from the Houthis and explicit dangers posed by Iran, the American military has also quietly scaled back its presence at Middle Eastern installations.
Violence has continued across multiple fronts in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority reported that an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam in the country’s east left one person dead and eight others wounded, while the airport sustained damage whose extent is still being assessed. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted at least seven drones, and falling debris from the successful interception of a drone targeting the Shaybah oil field in the kingdom’s Eastern Province killed two expatriate workers and injured two others. The actions of the Houthis—who maintain an alliance with the Islamic Republic—have drawn blame from certain Saudi officials directed toward Iran.
Pilgrims and Foreign Nationals Face Severe Travel Restrictions
The aerial bombardments have disrupted travelers, including those performing umrah or participating in haj, drawing millions of people each year from both inside Saudi Arabia and overseas. Fadi Anwar noted regarding the atmosphere of tension:
May God keep this away from us and from all Muslims, both in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Fadi Anwar
Following the attack on the Riyadh terminal, another traveler from Sudan, Al Amin Hassan Mohammed, shared his experience of the aftermath:
We were tired and worried. We went out of the houses and we talked to each other.
Al Amin Hassan Mohammed
Dammam, a city located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, is home to a married daughter of Mohammed, situated near Dhahran where an October 13 Houthi strike targeted a building belonging to Saudi Aramco. Mohammed also mentioned that they had some trips postponed.
With King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and other hubs affected by severe travel disruptions, ground transport operations have stepped up. A diplomat in Riyadh said several embassies had used Doha for trips to and from Saudi Arabia over recent days, including for staff temporarily leaving with their families, while businesses were busy arranging transport for foreign employees, sending them by road to Doha in Qatar for onward flights. The representative of a firm organizing transport to Doha and Dubai said fares to those destinations had doubled.
Saudi Forces Widen Offensive Against Houthi Strongholds
The conflict that began in 2014 was reignited in June when a four-year-old truce in the Yemeni civil war broke down, as forces backed by Saudi Arabia and allied with the internationally recognized government of Yemen widened their offensive against Houthi strongholds across various frontlines, with ongoing military backing from the Saudi air force.
Internationally, diplomatic and military support for Riyadh is active. President Donald Trump remarked earlier in the month: We have communication with the Houthis, and we’ll see what happens. But what they did was very bad.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom said it will deploy fighter jets to defend Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks, and Egypt also pledged all necessary and possible forms of support
in recent days. The U.S. has stepped up its support for the kingdom militarily by boosting intelligence and targeting support amid broader tensions involving Iranian attempts to blockade the Strait of Hormuz and a U.S. counter-blockade on Iranian ports and ships.
For emergency assistance or inquiries, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh is located in the Diplomatic Quarter, with telephone (966) (11) 835-4000 and email RiyadhACS@state.gov. The Consulate General in Jeddah is situated on Al Safa Street in the Al Muhammadiyah District near the new American School building, reachable at (966) (12) 220-5000 or JeddahACS@state.gov. The American Consulate General in Dhahran sits near the intersection of Salah Addin Al Ayoubi Road and Abu l’baba Al Aslami Street off King Saud bin Abdulaziz Road, and can be reached via (966) (13) 839-5700 or by writing to DhahranACS@state.gov.