US orders non-essential staff out of Saudi Arabia after Shaybah attack

The US State Department on Wednesday 21 October 2026 ordered non-essential US government employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia. A few hours earlier, a drone fired at the Shaybah oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia was intercepted and its debris killed two foreign workers. A new wave of attacks by the Houthis, the Islamic Republic's allies in Yemen, was given as the main reason for the decision.

Tommy Pigott, spokesman for the US State Department, said on X on Wednesday evening that the order covers only non-essential US government staff and their families in Saudi Arabia. According to him, the decision is a response to Houthi attacks on Saudi territory, including on the country's airports, and the safety of staff and their families is the State Department's "highest priority". Earlier, a diplomatic source had said that all staff of the US embassy in Riyadh must leave Saudi Arabia and that the families of embassy staff in the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain must also leave the region. The State Department's official statement gave a narrower scope for the order than these reports.

Drone attack on the Shaybah oil field

Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said a drone targeting the processing unit of Aramco's Shaybah oil field, near the UAE border, was intercepted before reaching its target. Its debris fell outside the facility's perimeter onto a contractor's vehicle, which caught fire. According to the ministry, a Filipino national and a Nepali national were killed and a Pakistani national and an Indian national were injured. Operations at the oil field were not halted. Riyadh has not said where the drone was fired from or by whom.

The attack came amid an increase in Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. Earlier, a Houthi missile attack on a camp in Shabwa, Yemen took the lives of 73 young men, and Britain has sent Typhoon fighter jets to defend Saudi airspace. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh has reopened only in a limited way after the recent attacks, and several European airlines have cancelled their flights until mid-November.

Concern about the war spreading

US embassies in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE have issued security alerts in recent days, warning that the fighting could spread quickly. These decisions come as the Islamic Republic's threats against countries in the region escalate and after recent attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, including the attack on the Kuwaiti tanker Al-Dasma.

The United States is pulling non-essential staff out of Saudi Arabia, as a drone fired at the Shaybah oil field killed two workers.