At least one person has lost their life and eight others have been injured with varying degrees of severity following an attack reported late Wednesday against King Fahd International Airport, located in the city of Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia, according to the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) of the kingdom.
In its official statement, the agency specified that the deceased is a resident of the country and that the injured present clinical conditions ranging from "mild to critical." All of them were immediately evacuated to different hospitals for medical treatment. Authorities have added that the attack has also caused material damage in several areas of the aerodrome, the extent of which "is currently being assessed."
This new incident takes place at a time of severe deterioration of the security situation in Saudi Arabia, marked by the increase in tensions linked to the war in neighboring Yemen. In this context of escalation, the U.S. government ordered on Wednesday the "ordered departure" of non-essential personnel from its diplomatic missions in Saudi territory, as well as their accompanying family members.
The spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, Tommy Pigott, defended the evacuation decision by emphasizing that the Iranian-backed Houthi insurgency has "increasingly intensified its hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure that have resulted in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions."
In parallel to the attack on Dammam airport, Riyadh has reported in recent hours another deadly aggression against the strategic Saudi oil field of Shaybah. Remnants of a combat drone, initially shot down by air defenses, struck a contractor's vehicle, resulting in the death of two workers — one Filipino citizen and another Nepali — and injuring two other workers.
ATTACK IN ADEN AND HOUTHIE OFFENSIVE
At the same time, Houthi rebels claimed on Wednesday a new ballistic missile attack against Saudi military targets, this time at the airport of the Yemeni city of Aden, in the south of the country. "Our Armed Forces have successfully attacked with a ballistic missile an enemy operations center (...), the attack has been precise and direct," stated the military operations spokesperson of the group, Yahya Sari.
For weeks, the Houthis have intensified their campaign of missile and drone attacks against infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, which they present as a response to the support of the international coalition for the Yemeni government forces. These authorities announced at the beginning of October a large-scale offensive with the aim of recovering the areas taken by the rebels.