One Killed, Eight Injured in Attack on King Fahd Airport in Dammam; Drone Debris Near Oilfield Kills Two More

One person has been killed and eight injured in an attack on Saudi Arabia's King Fahd International Airport in the eastern city of Dammam, the country's civil aviation authority announced. All injured individuals were immediately transported to hospitals, the authority said.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation, GACA, said in a statement on Wednesday that all of the wounded, whose injuries range from minor to critical, were transported to hospitals to receive medical attention. The authority said updates will be forthcoming.

Earlier in the day, two people were killed after Saudi air defences intercepted a drone that was attempting to hit a facility at Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oilfield, the Ministry of Energy said. Together, the airport and oilfield incidents on Wednesday brought the death toll to at least three.

It was the latest in a series of assaults on Saudi airports as conflict intensifies between Houthi forces and the Saudi-backed internationally recognised Yemeni government.

Last week, the kingdom reported that a projectile strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on October 11 killed one person and injured 11. On October 10, the civil aviation authority reported that a separate attack on the same airport claimed the lives of 12 people and injured more than 300.

On Wednesday, the US State Department ordered diplomats and family members to depart from its missions in Saudi Arabia amid the ongoing Houthi attacks. There are also plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region, US officials told Reuters.

The US embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday about possible further attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia. That alert and the decision to withdraw diplomats added to the significance of Wednesday's airport attack.

The airport in Dammam is located on the Gulf, near Bahrain and Qatar. Another report said the airport also suffered some material damage, and global flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said flights had been diverted away from the airport.

Neither attack was immediately claimed by the Houthis, according to reports, but airports and oil facilities have been a major target in their recent wave of strikes. Saudi authorities' statements have placed attacks on civilian airports and critical infrastructure at the centre of this escalation.

This series of attacks has brought the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen back to the forefront of regional security. Repeated targeting of civilian facilities such as airports is also raising concerns about passenger safety and air travel.

The civil aviation authority said it will continue to provide updates. Attention will now be on the condition of the wounded, the full picture of damage at the airport, and whether any new claim of responsibility for the attacks emerges.