The State Department ordered the departure of nonemergency U.S. government employees and their family members from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the Iranian-backed Houthis have continued to attack the country.  “As the Department has repeatedly emphasized, the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly, including beyond that immediate area,” a State Department spokesperson told The…

The State Department ordered the departure of nonemergency U.S. government employees and their family members from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the Iranian-backed Houthis have continued to attack the country.  “As the Department has repeatedly emphasized, the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly, including beyond that immediate area,” a State Department spokesperson told The…

The Trump administration has ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia as deadly Houthi attacks intensify across the kingdom, raising the stakes as President Donald Trump weighs direct military action against the Iran-backed group.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott confirmed Wednesday that the mandatory departure order applies only to Saudi Arabia, pushing back on reports that Washington was preparing a broader evacuation of diplomatic personnel across the Gulf.

"The U.S. Department of State issued an ordered departure for non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only," Pigott said.

HOW SAUDI ARABIA'S DEFENSE VULNERABILITIES COULD BECOME TRUMP'S PROBLEM AMID HOUTHI ONSLAUGHT

The order comes amid a surge in Houthi missile and drone attacks that has left civilians dead, disrupted air travel and sent Saudi Arabia scrambling for additional missile defenses.

"Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions," Pigott added.

President Donald Trump is weighing whether to launch direct U.S. military strikes against the Houthis, whose expanding missile and drone campaign has increasingly threatened Saudi cities, airports and energy infrastructure.

Houthi strikes and attempted strikes on Saudi Arabia more than doubled in a single week this month, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, with airports in Riyadh, Jizan, Najran, Dammam and Abha targeted since Oct. 5.

The deadliest barrage struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 300.

SAUDI ARABIA ON EDGE: ICONIC KINGDOM CENTRE SENDS WORKERS HOME AMID HOUTHI ATTACKS

The escalating attacks have prompted Saudi Arabia to seek additional military support from its allies. Britain announced Tuesday that it would deploy Typhoon fighter jets to help defend Saudi cities and critical infrastructure, while Egypt is assisting the kingdom and Israel has offered to help.

Riyadh has also asked Washington for additional missile interceptors, though U.S. officials have warned that global demand is straining available supplies.

"I also talked to Saudi Arabia today; they'd like interceptors. Israel would like interceptors. We would like interceptors. Every country in the world would like interceptors," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.

Rubio described the weapons as "probably the most in-demand product right now in the defense field," acknowledging that the United States must balance requests from allies against its own military requirements.

The growing threat has exposed the difficulty of defending Saudi Arabia's vast territory against relatively inexpensive missiles and drones, even with some of the world's most sophisticated air defenses.

"Saudi Arabia is a huge geography to protect, and this speaks to a larger threat we're facing globally: a relatively small nonstate actor can pose a serious challenge to even a sophisticated and extremely expensive military," Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House, told Fox News Digital in an interview published Wednesday.

"The Houthis can impose enormous costs without having to spend very much themselves," he said.

Trump has left open the possibility of direct military intervention against the Houthis, telling reporters earlier this month that the U.S. could join Saudi strikes against the group.

"We may. We're gonna look at it," Trump said. "We'll make a decision. We move very quickly."

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The U.S. conducted a roughly two-month bombing campaign against Houthi targets in Yemen in 2025 before Trump halted the operation following an Oman-brokered agreement.

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The U.S. continues to provide intelligence and targeting support to Saudi Arabia as Trump weighs whether to launch another round of strikes against the Houthis.

The U.S. embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday about possible further attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia

The U.S. embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday about possible further attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia

Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud, minister of interior, on Tuesday inaugurated the medical center and Military Medical Committee clinics at the security complex in eastern Riyadh. Both facilities are affiliated with the Ministry of Interior’s medical services. After the inauguration, Prince Abdulaziz toured the medical center’s facilities and was briefed on its equipment and therapeutic and diagnostic services, including emergency care, general medicine, physical therapy and rehabilitation, and pharmac

The US State Department is preparing to issue an ordered departure of some personnel and family members from US embassies across the Gulf region, three US officials said on Wednesday.

The move was due to a possible resumption of hostilities, particularly with Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen, two of the US officials said.

The US Embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday about possible further attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia, after recent deadly strikes including on Riyadh’s airport.

Two of the US officials said the ordered departures would potentially involve the evacuation of all personnel and their families from the US Mission to Saudi Arabia.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars condemned attacks by the Houthis in Yemen against civilian locations, as it accused the Iran-backed militia of terrorism and attempting to target the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. In a statement issued by its General Secretariat on Wednesday, the council said the actions of the group had fueled instability and threatened the lives of innocent people, and alleged attempts to target Islam’s two holiest sites represented a grave act of aggressi

Turkey’s ruling AKP party is reportedly seeking a mandate from Parliament to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia to protect it from attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen, thus fulfilling the mutual defense obligations of the treaty signed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan in August.

The post Report: Turkey Seeks Parliamentary Mandate for Sending Troops to Defend Saudi Arabia appeared first on Breitbart.

The post In Video: Houthi Drones Hunt Down Saudi Soldiers Along Yemen’s Border appeared first on South Front.

CAIRO: Any military support Egypt provides to Saudi Arabia would be limited to defending the Kingdom and not involve attacks on Yemen, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday. Cairo would be prepared to help defend the territory of other Arab countries if asked to do so, he added, but reiterated that any military action would not extend beyond Egypt or a fellow Arab state whose security and stability Cairo sought to protect. El-Sisi’s remarks, in a statement delivered by presidential sp

JEDDAH: The perceived risk to shipping through the Bab Al-Mandab Strait exceeds the actual threat, while container volumes entering the port have returned to levels close to those recorded late last year, a senior Red Sea Gateway Terminal executive said on Wednesday. Karim Omran, vice president, group commercial, at the Jeddah-based operator, told Arab News that major carriers’ decisions to return to the route informed his assessment. He told Arab News: “Major shipping lines, including CMA CGM,

RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a written message for King Salman from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday. The message was delivered to the crown prince by Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed Saudi-Egyptian relations and opportunities to further strengthen them. They also discussed regional developments and the coordination of efforts regardi

RIYADH: King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh performed a whole-lung lavage on a 10-year-old girl in a single session lasting about nine hours. The procedure was performed to treat a rare lung disease that had caused the patient’s blood oxygen saturation to drop to 79 percent, compared with the normal range of 95 to 100 percent. The girl was discharged five days later in stable condition without complications, the Saudi Press Agency reported. She had experienced persisten

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia should develop a trade corridor through the Indian Ocean to reduce its dependence on the region’s two maritime chokepoints, Folk Maritime’s CEO said on Wednesday. “We need, as a Kingdom, to be independent of either of the two straits. This is a lesson we have all learned,” Poul Hestbaek told the Saudi Maritime and Logistics Congress in Jeddah. Speaking during the opening panel, “Fragmentation: Navigating the New Geopolitics,” he said: “How are we going to do it? Who is going

RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received French President Emmanuel Macron in Riyadh on Wednesday. According to the French Presidency, the two leaders held a conversation during which they reaffirmed the strength of the partnership between their countries. “The discussion yielded several significant outcomes aimed at securing our supply chains in the short, medium, and long term,” the presidency said. “The Saudi authorities have agreed to extend—for as many months as necessary—the

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia receives an average of 13.29 mm of rainfall in November, making it the Kingdom’s second-wettest month, according to historic data from the National Center for Meteorology. The center’s records from 1985 to 2025 show that November rainfall is concentrated mainly in central Saudi Arabia and parts of the western and eastern regions. Al-Qassim recorded the highest average November rainfall among monitored stations, at 29.3 mm, followed by Qaisumah at 27.2 mm, Jeddah at 27.1 mm,

JEDDAH: Breast cancer awareness is reaching far beyond hospital walls in Jeddah this October. From shopping centers and cafes to schools, hotels and running clubs, organizations across the city are weaving awareness campaigns into everyday activities, using familiar community spaces to encourage conversations about early detection and support women affected by the disease. One such effort is taking place at U Walk Jeddah, where Sale Corner is hosting a four-day lifestyle exhibition from Oct. 21-

RIYADH: Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif reviewed operations at security forces headquarters in Riyadh on Tuesday, inaugurating two command-and-control and cybersecurity centers and launching digital services for security personnel. The center and security drone systems include seven specialized units and are linked to 13 other command-and-control centers across the forces’ branches throughout the Kingdom, said the ministry. The center operates through an integrated

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s accelerating investment in artificial intelligence is increasingly reflected in how people learn and work, with new data showing surging demand for AI-related skills and professional credentials across the Kingdom. The findings come from Coursera’s latest AI-Human Skills Synergy Index, released this month, which ranked Saudi Arabia third in the Middle East and North Africa, and 25th globally among 98 countries. According to the report, enrollments in AI courses in the King