According to a report carried by The Express Tribune and news agency Reuters, an attack on King Fahd International Airport in the eastern Saudi city of Dammam on Wednesday evening killed one resident and injured eight others. The figures were released by Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation.
On the same day an oil facility in the Eastern Province was targeted, and Washington has now decided to reduce staff at its diplomatic missions in the kingdom.
US orders diplomats out
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on X that the department had ordered the departure of non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia. He said Iranian-supported Houthis had increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure, causing civilian casualties and severe travel disruption.
Four US officials told Reuters that US missions in other Gulf states would also order family members to leave, though Pigott did not address missions outside Saudi Arabia.
Drone at Shaybah oil field; Pakistani among injured
Citing the Saudi Press Agency, the Saudi Energy Ministry said air defences on Wednesday intercepted a drone heading for a facility at Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oil field. Debris set fire to a contractor's vehicle outside the facility's perimeter, killing two foreign nationals from the Philippines and Nepal.
The ministry said the two injured were a Pakistani and an Indian national, and that operations at the field were not affected.
Background: a widening regional war
The report says the US had recently returned some diplomatic staff to the region after pulling many out when Tehran attacked US facilities following the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran in late February. Escalating fighting in Yemen has opened another front in that conflict, which has disrupted global energy trade and hurt Gulf economies.
Millions of Pakistanis live and work in Saudi Arabia, so the situation in the Eastern Province is being closely watched at home. Saudi authorities have not given further details on who carried out the Dammam airport attack.