Les États-Unis ordonnent à certains diplomates de quitter l'Arabie saoudite au milieu de la menace houthi

The United States ordered non-essential diplomatic staff and their family members to depart Saudi Arabia late on Wednesday, citing escalating hostilities from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The directive came as a strike on King Fahd International Airport in the eastern city of Dammam killed one person and injured eight others. The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the casualty count and stated that assessments of material damage to the facility were underway. Flight tracking data indicated that operations at the airport halted, with incoming and outgoing flights being diverted to other locations. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced the evacuation order via social media, describing the situation as a response to increasing Houthi aggression. He noted that the rebels had targeted civilian airports and critical infrastructure, causing civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions. Pigott emphasized that the safety of U.S. government personnel and their families remained the top priority. While a diplomatic source in the Middle East suggested that similar withdrawal orders applied to U.S. embassy families in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain, Pigott explicitly denied these reports. He clarified that the order strictly concerned non-essential employees at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and their dependents. The attack on Dammam occurred amidst a broader pattern of violence in the region. On the same day, the Saudi Energy Ministry reported that debris from an intercepted drone killed two workers at the Shaybah oil field, which is operated by the state-owned Aramco company and located near the border with the United Arab Emirates. The ministry identified the deceased as a Filipino and a Nepali national. Two other individuals, described by the ministry as Pakistani and Indian nationals, were injured in the incident. Air defense systems successfully shot down the drone before it reached its target, though the falling wreckage caused the fatalities. Saudi military officials reported multiple drone interceptions across the kingdom on Wednesday. The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, Turki al-Malki, initially stated that four drones were intercepted and destroyed in the eastern region and near Medina. He later updated the count to five, and finally to six, specifying that the sixth drone was launched by the Houthi militia toward the southern border adjacent to Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition also reported intercepting attacks on shipping routes and other energy infrastructure. The current escalation marks a collapse in relations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi rebels. A four-year truce in Yemen’s civil war, which had paused the conflict dating back to 2014, dissolved in June. Since then, Saudi Arabia has faced near-daily attacks. This intensification coincides with broader regional tensions involving Iran. The United States and Israel have recently engaged in military actions against Tehran, prompting retaliatory strikes from Iran and its proxies. U.S. officials have issued similar evacuation orders on previous occasions this year in response to Iranian strikes on Saudi territory. Earlier this month, a strike on Riyadh International Airport resulted in twelve deaths and over three hundred injuries, marking the deadliest such incident in the kingdom in years. That attack highlighted the vulnerability of major transport hubs to Houthi projectiles. In June, debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed a Yemeni resident in Saudi Arabia, representing the first reported civilian death since the rebels resumed intense attacks on Saudi shipping and oil installations. The geopolitical backdrop includes heightened rhetoric between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Iran. Reports indicate that dozens of Israeli fighter jets and tankers flew near the Iranian border earlier this week in a drill intended for deterrence. Some analysts speculated the maneuver might aim to provoke an Iranian military reaction, potentially reigniting the war. Critics of Netanyahu within Israel alleged he sought escalation ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for the following Tuesday. However, U.S. officials maintained that the specific evacuation order for Saudi Arabia was driven directly by Houthi actions rather than broader Israeli-Iranian maneuvers. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the specific strike on Dammam, nor have they commented on the incident immediately after it occurred. Saudi authorities likewise did not identify the perpetrators in their initial statements, focusing instead on the assessment of damages and medical care for the injured. The airport, situated on the Persian Gulf coast near Bahrain and Qatar, serves as a key hub for regional air traffic. Its temporary closure disrupted logistics and passenger movement across the Gulf states. Regional allies of the United States have previously been targeted by Iranian fires during periods of high tension between Washington and Tehran. The current wave of evacuations reflects a precautionary measure to protect diplomatic assets in case the conflict expands further. The U.S. State Department continued to monitor the situation, with no immediate indication of further changes to the status of essential diplomatic personnel in the region. The focus remained on securing the safe departure of the designated non-essential staff and ensuring continuity of core consular services in Riyadh.