One person was killed and eight others injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam late Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority announced early Thursday — the latest deadly strike on a Saudi airport as the kingdom’s confrontation with Yemen’s Houthi rebels intensifies.
The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said in a statement that the injured had sustained wounds ranging from minor to critical and were taken to hospitals for treatment. The airport suffered material damage, and authorities said the extent of the damage was still being assessed.
Global flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said overnight that flights had been diverted away from the airport. The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted four drone attacks in the Eastern region. The nature of the Dammam attack was not disclosed, and the Houthis — who have been attacking Saudi Arabia from Yemen for months — did not immediately comment.
Two killed at Shaybah oil field the same day
Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said debris from an intercepted drone killed two people and injured two others at Saudi Aramco‘s Shaybah oil field in the country’s southeast.
The ministry said the two people killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals. The falling debris also sparked a fire in a contractor’s vehicle at the field, which the ministry said has the capacity to produce around a million barrels of crude a day. Operations at the field were unaffected.
The twin incidents marked one of the deadliest days of the campaign: three people killed across the two attacks.
US orders embassy staff to leave Saudi Arabia
The airport attack prompted Washington to act. The US State Department on Wednesday ordered non-emergency government employees and their family members to depart Saudi Arabia, spokesman Tommy Pigott said on X, citing intensified Houthi attacks on the kingdom targeting civilian airports and critical infrastructure.
The US embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday warning of possible further Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and urging extreme caution at airports. A diplomatic source told AFP that families of US embassy staff were also being withdrawn from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain, though Pigott clarified that the formal departure order applied only to Saudi Arabia.
Part of a wider airport campaign
The Dammam strike is the latest in a series of attacks on Saudi airports this month. Last week, Saudi authorities reported that a projectile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on October 11 killed one person and injured 11 others. On October 10, a separate attack on the same airport killed 12 people and injured more than 300, according to the civil aviation authority. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted Saudi airports in October, and the campaign has already forced the postponement of the kingdom’s flagship Future Investment Initiative conference to 2027.
What remains unknown
Saudi authorities have not said what weapon struck the Dammam airport, and no group has claimed responsibility. The exact scale of damage to the airport is still being assessed, and the flight schedule impact remains unclear. GACA said further updates would follow.
Frequently asked questions
Was the Dammam airport attack claimed by the Houthis? — No. As of Thursday morning, the Iran-backed Houthis had not commented on the attack. Saudi Arabia’s coalition said it intercepted four drone attacks in the Eastern region the same night.
How many people were hurt in the Dammam airport attack? — One person was killed and eight injured, with injuries ranging from minor to critical, according to Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority.
Is Dammam airport open? — Flights were diverted away from the airport overnight, according to flight-tracking data. Saudi authorities were still assessing damage and had not given a full operational update.
