A late-night attack on Saudi Arabia's Dammam airport killed two people and injured eight others, the kingdom's civil aviation authority said, a day after Washington ordered nonessential US embassy staff and their families to leave the country.
A Saudi man and an Indian man were killed in Wednesday's attack, the Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation said. Damage to the airport was still being assessed.
Attacks on airports and oil sites
Houthi attacks on Saudi oil and civilian infrastructure have reached an unprecedented scale in recent weeks. Official figures show 22 people have been killed in attacks on Saudi airports this month. Riyadh has shut its main airport and postponed a major investment conference until next year.
On Wednesday the Saudi energy ministry said falling debris from the interception of a drone aimed at the Shaybah oil field near the UAE border killed two workers, a Filipino and a Nepalese, and injured two more. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it intercepted six drones earlier the same day.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott wrote on social media that Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly attacked civilian airports and other critical infrastructure, causing civilian casualties and severe travel disruption. He said the safety of department personnel and their families remains the top priority.
A diplomatic source in the Middle East said some families of US embassy staff were also being withdrawn from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain. Pigott said Wednesday's order covered Saudi Arabia only.
A warning over Hormuz
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said US forces must know that if ship escorts through the Strait of Hormuz continue, the conflict will extend to American bases in the region. It called the statement a serious warning.
Iran claims control of Hormuz, the shipping route through which one-fifth of the world's oil supplies passed before war broke out in February. Iranian state media reported explosions in the southern Hormozgan province late on Wednesday, without giving details.
Repeated drawdowns
Washington ordered nonessential staff out of the Gulf before the start of its war against Iran in late February, and again in July before President Donald Trump called off a new wave of strikes. This week's departure is the third this year, and it comes as Houthi fire keeps pushing foreign governments to reduce their footprint in the kingdom.