Saudi officials report two deaths in Dammam airport strike

U.S. orders some embassy staff and families to leave Saudi Arabia

Saudi officials said Thursday that one Saudi national and one Indian resident were killed and eight others were wounded in a Wednesday-night strike on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam. Dammam lies on the Persian Gulf just north of Bahrain and is home to the state oil agency Aramco.

Authorities said the airport was operating normally Thursday.

In a separate incident in the same province, two people were killed and two others were wounded when a drone was intercepted over Aramco’s Shaybah oil field. The Saudi Energy Ministry said on X that falling debris ignited a fire in a contractor’s vehicle when the drone was hit. The fire killed a Filipino and a Nepali.

Saudi officials did not say whom they believed was responsible for the Dammam airport strike or the Shaybah incident.

UPI reported that the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have been trading strikes in recent weeks. UPI reported, “The Houthis are fighting a civil war with Yemen’s government.” The outlet also reported that Iran backs the Houthis, while Saudi Arabia, along with many other countries, backs Yemen.

The Houthis have been trying to block access to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which would cut off access to the Red Sea, while the United States and Iran have blocked the Strait of Hormuz, UPI reported. The Houthis have had control of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, since 2014, UPI reported.

UPI reported that most Houthi attacks have been in the southern and southwestern parts of Saudi Arabia, with attacks on Riyadh’s main international airport as the exception. Dammam is about 260 miles east of Riyadh.

The BBC reported that Houthi-run media said at least six people were killed and 11 injured in air and artillery strikes over the past 24 hours.

The U.S. State Department ordered some embassy staff and their families in Riyadh to leave Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Saudi officials did not identify responsibility for the Dammam strike. Before it, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned on Oct. 11 that Saudi airports and airspace “are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces,” according to MSI’s report on the warning to travelers and airlines. The warning followed an Oct. 10 Houthi strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300, as MSI previously reported in its coverage of the Houthi strike on Riyadh airport.