Reports: US sending diplomats home from Saudi Arabia

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Updated 23:08 | Published 21:22

Washington has ordered all its diplomats and their families in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, a diplomatic source told AFP.

Late Wednesday evening, the Saudi Ministry of Energy reported that two people were killed when a drone was shot down.

Family members of staff at US embassies in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain have also been ordered to return to the US, according to the source who spoke to AFP.

Tommy Pigott, a spokesperson for the US State Department, confirmed in a post on X that most staff in Saudi Arabia have been ordered to leave, but denied that this applies to the other four countries.

Concurrently, the Saudi Ministry of Energy announced at approximately 21:30 that two people had been killed and two others injured when air defenses shot down a drone at an oil facility near the border with the United Arab Emirates. It is not yet clear which party is responsible for the attack.

The attack and the reports regarding embassy personnel come at a time when the Gulf state is under heavy pressure from strikes by the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen. Earlier on Wednesday, Riyadh’s airport reopened after having been closed since earlier in Octob