The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members to depart from its missions in Saudi Arabia, US officials told Reuters, as attacks blamed on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis killed three people in the kingdom in a single day.

Source: Reuters via BusinessWorld

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a post on X that the department ordered the departure of "non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only" amid Houthi attacks on civilian targets. Four US officials told Reuters that US missions in other Gulf states would also be ordering family members to leave, though Pigott did not address missions outside Saudi Arabia.

One killed at Dammam airport, two at Shaybah oilfield

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said one person was killed and eight others injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in the Eastern Province, late on Wednesday, with the injured — whose conditions ranged from minor to critical — taken to hospital, Al Jazeera reported. The authority said damage to airport facilities was still being assessed and did not disclose the nature of the attack.

Source: Al Jazeera via 234Radio

Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said two people were killed after Saudi air defences intercepted a drone attempting to hit a facility at Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oilfield; the ministry said there was no impact on operations. The Saudi-led coalition also said it intercepted drones launched toward the kingdom, including in the Eastern Province.

For the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers who live and work across the Gulf — including in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, home to major oil facilities and Dammam airport — the escalation matters directly: the US embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday warning of possible further Houthi attacks, and flights were reported diverted after the airport attack.

Oil jumps as supply fears grow

Crude oil rose on Thursday after the attacks and the US departure order. Brent crude futures rose 1.2% to $110.11 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1% to $98.12, Reuters reported in its market wrap. Yaani: Brent at $110.11 a barrel means crude is back above the $110 mark — roughly ₹10,400 a barrel at recent exchange rates — a level that pushes up fuel and inflation pressure in importing countries like India.

Washington had returned some diplomatic personnel to the region in recent months after many were pulled out when Tehran launched retaliatory attacks on US facilities after the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, Reuters said. The latest withdrawals follow an escalation of fighting in Yemen, opening another front in the wider regional conflict.