US prepares Gulf embassy evacuations as Houthi attacks escalate 

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said Wednesday that two people were killed in a drone attack targeting facilities belonging to oil company Aramco.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The United States is preparing to evacuate some diplomatic personnel and their family members from embassies in the Gulf as Houthi attacks escalate, official sources told Reuters. 

Two US officials said the ordered departures could include all personnel and their families from the US Mission to Saudi Arabia.

The US Embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert Wednesday warning of possible further Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia following recent deadly strikes, including an attack on Riyadh’s airport. 

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said Wednesday that two people were killed in a drone attack targeting facilities belonging to oil company Aramco.

The fatalities were foreign workers from the Philippines and Nepal. 

According to the ministry, a drone attempting to strike a facility at Aramco’s Shaybah oil field was intercepted, causing a fire in a contractor’s vehicle outside the facility’s boundaries. Operations at the oil field continued as usual. 

The Saudi-led coalition also said Wednesday that it intercepted five drones launched toward the kingdom over the Medina area and eastern regions. 

Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki said forces had intercepted another drone over Riyadh on Tuesday, several hours after shooting down a Houthi ballistic missile headed toward the Saudi capital. Residents reported two loud explosions Tuesday morning and received warnings through mobile phone applications. No injuries or damage were reported. 

Al-Maliki later said coalition forces destroyed the platform from which the ballistic missile was launched but did not identify its location. 

Meanwhile, government forces in Yemen said Tuesday that they conducted 744 air and ground attacks against Houthi military targets during the previous 24 hours. Majid Al-Nuzaili, spokesperson for the government forces, said the operations targeted command-and-control centers, firing positions, troop concentrations, reinforcements and supply lines on several fronts. 

Al-Nuzaili said the attacks “neutralized” about 200 Houthi fighters and destroyed or damaged 90 military vehicles and other equipment. The claims could not be independently verified. 

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Tuesday that Saudi forces carried out 93 air and missile strikes across eight Yemeni provinces over the previous 24 hours. Saree said the latest attacks brought the number of strikes since the current escalation began to 2,793. Those figures also could not be independently verified.