Amid Houthi drone attacks and rising tension in the Gulf region, an airport and an important oil installation have been targeted in Saudi Arabia, killing 3 people, including foreign workers, and injuring several, including a Pakistani citizen.
On Wednesday, a drone attack was carried out on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia. Confirming the incident, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said 1 foreign national was killed and 8 people were injured in the attack on the airport, some of them seriously.
Meanwhile, according to Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry and the state news agency, a drone heading to target Aramco’s important Shaybah oil field in the Eastern Province was destroyed in the air by the air defence system. However, falling drone debris set a contractor’s vehicle on fire, killing 2 foreigners from the Philippines and Nepal and injuring a Pakistani and an Indian citizen. The Arab coalition claimed that a total of 5 drones had been shot down over the eastern region in the past few hours.
In view of possible fighting with the Houthis in the Gulf region and the deteriorating situation, the US State Department has ordered all non-essential staff of the Riyadh embassy and their families to leave Saudi Arabia immediately. In addition, the families of US diplomats in the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain have also been ordered to leave.
After these drone attacks and diplomatic moves in the Gulf, fears of a further major war in the region and disruption to the global energy market have become extremely serious.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthi group has said the group did not send any drone towards the Saudi city of Medina on Wednesday and has not carried out any military action against Saudi Arabia.
The statement by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree came after the Saudi-led coalition had earlier announced that it had destroyed five drones heading towards Saudi Arabia.
According to the coalition, the possible targets of these attacks included the Medina area.
Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said in a message on X: ‘Four drones launched towards Saudi Arabia were intercepted and destroyed.’
Later, in a second message, he said these drones were intercepted over the eastern region of Saudi Arabia and the Medina area.
Al-Maliki did not name any party responsible for these attacks, but later said another drone had also been intercepted over eastern Saudi Arabia.
