Three Killed in Separate Attacks on Dammam Airport and an Aramco Oil Field, Ten More Injured

Three people have been killed in separate attacks on Saudi Arabia's Dammam airport and the Shaybah (Sheba) oil field of an Aramco oil refinery. Ten more people have been reported injured in these attacks. With a civilian airport and an energy installation — two strategic targets in the country's east — struck on the same day, fresh tension has spread across the whole region.

The country's General Authority of Civil Aviation said that in an attack on Wednesday evening at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in the eastern city, one foreign national was killed and eight people were injured. The agency said in a statement that some of the injured were seriously hurt. Right after the attack, emergency rescue teams reached the scene, rescued the injured and admitted them to various local hospitals, and according to doctors, several of the injured are in extremely critical condition.

However, the Saudi authorities gave no detailed information about the drone used in the Dammam airport attack or its source. Turki al-Maliki, spokesman of the Saudi-led military coalition, has not yet directly blamed any specific party for this attack. As a result, official ambiguity remains over the source of the attack.

Regarding another attack, the Saudi Energy Ministry said in a separate statement that two people were killed when debris fell while intercepting a drone targeting the Sheba oil field of the Aramco refinery in the east. On Wednesday morning, Saudi air defences destroyed the drone mid-way, but casualties occurred when the drone's debris fell onto the Aramco installation.

The dead were citizens of the Philippines and Nepal, and Pakistani and Indian citizens are among the injured, it has been learned. The Saudi Energy Ministry said debris from the drone set fire to a vehicle of a contractor firm working outside the oil field. However, this caused no damage or disruption to oil production or other activities.

At the same time, the Saudi-led military coalition has claimed that five drones fired towards Madina and the eastern region in the past few hours were shot down. Spokesman Turki al-Maliki said in a message on social media platform X that four drones fired towards Saudi Arabia were intercepted and destroyed mid-way. In a later message, he said the drones were intercepted in Saudi Arabia's eastern region and the Madina area, and later he also reported intercepting another drone in the east.

However, the Houthis have denied this claim of attacks. A spokesman of Yemen's Houthi group said that on Wednesday their group sent no drone towards Saudi Arabia's Madina city and took no military action against the country either. This statement by Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree came at a time when the Saudi-led military coalition had earlier announced destroying five drones fired targeting the country. According to the Saudi military coalition, the Madina area was also among the possible targets of these attacks.

In the background is a recent pattern. Due to the ongoing conflict between Yemen's Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces, attacks targeting various civilian airports and oil installations in Saudi Arabia have increased greatly in recent days. Just a week earlier, a series of missile and drone attacks on King Khalid International Airport in the capital Riyadh caused deaths and major chaos. As a result, this new blow to the airport and energy sectors has become a major concern for Riyadh's overall air and economic security.

Because of this growing security risk, the United States has taken a strong step. Washington has ordered some staff of the US embassy in Saudi Arabia and their family members to leave the country. The US State Department announced the order on Wednesday. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a social media post that Iran-backed Houthis are increasingly engaging in hostile activities against Saudi Arabia; these include attacks on important infrastructure including the country's civilian airports, civilians are being killed and injured in these attacks, and transport systems are being severely disrupted. He said, 'The safety of US State Department staff and their family members is our highest priority.' A Middle East diplomatic source told AFP that family members of US embassy staff are also being evacuated from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain.

Activity has also increased in diplomatic circles. French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh on a surprise visit to express sympathy and solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of one attack after another by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. On this visit, he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. After the increase in Houthi attacks, Macron is the first Western leader to visit Saudi Arabia.

Before Macron's arrival, a statement issued by the French president's office said the main purpose of this visit is to stand beside Saudi Arabia in the context of the Houthi attacks and to continue efforts to keep hydrocarbon (energy) resources safe and diversify their sources. Speaking to journalists, President Macron said he is only doing his duty. There, he announced that French military members and equipment have been sent to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia's main oil terminal port.

Meanwhile, an oil tanker has been attacked again near the Strait of Hormuz. A British maritime trade agency said an oil tanker was targeted in the area facing the Strait of Hormuz near Oman. According to reports, the tanker caught fire in this incident, which was later brought under control; the tanker is currently at anchor, and all the ship's crew or sailors are safe and secure.

At the same time, another claim has come forward. The Houthi group Ansar Allah has claimed that Saudi military equipment sent by military cargo planes to Al-Rayan Airport in Mukalla, capital of Yemen's southern Hadhramaut province, has been destroyed. At the same time, a Houthi group has warned Riyadh that 'no civilian installation should be used for military purposes'.

All in all, the attacks on Dammam and Shaybah, the counter-claims over drone interceptions, the order for US embassy staff to leave, and the tanker attack at Hormuz — these events of the same day have pushed the Middle East's security situation into uncertainty once again. As the statements of the Saudi coalition and the Houthis over responsibility for the attacks are contradictory, it may take more time for the real picture to become clear. For now, treatment of the injured, strengthening security at the airport and oil field, and diplomatic activity have come forward as the next steps.