State Department orders non-emergency US staff to leave Saudi Arabia

By Aldgra Fredly
Contributing Writer
The U.S. State Department on Sunday ordered non-emergency U.S. government workers and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, citing security risks arising from the conflict with Iran.
The U.S. embassy has raised the travel advisory for Saudi Arabia from Level 2 to Level 3, meaning that U.S. citizens should “reconsider travel” to the country amid potential Iranian attacks targeting U.S. interests, armed conflict, terrorism, exit bans and local laws on social media use.
The advisory warned of ongoing Iranian drone and missile threats to Saudi Arabia amidst the U.S.-Israel military operations against Iran, which caused disruptions to commercial flights across the region.
“Iran and the Houthis in Yemen have launched missile and drone attacks into Saudi Arabia,” it said. “Attacks have targeted cities, infrastructure, airports, military bases, diplomatic and energy facilities throughout the country.”
For security reasons, U.S. government employees in Saudi Arabia have been barred from non-official travel to Qatif and from traveling within 20 miles of the Yemen border, according to the advisory.
Yemen is under a Level 4 advisory, meaning that Americans should not travel there because of terrorism, civil unrest, crime, health risks, kidnapping and landmines in the country.
The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia and the Yemen border due to the prevailing safety risks there, according to the department.
The United States and Israel began military operations against Iran on Feb. 28, resulting in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other high-ranking Iranian leaders. President Donald Trump has said the strikes were aimed at neutralizing Iran’s nuclear threat.
Iran has responded with a series of retaliatory attacks against targets within countries in the Middle East. Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon also launched attacks against Israel.
Following Khamenei’s death, Iran’s Assembly of Experts has named his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country’s next supreme leader.
Trump has warned that the United States must be involved in selecting Iran’s next leader.
“If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” Trump told ABC News on Sunday. “We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it.”
Seven U.S. soldiers have died in the war against the Iranian regime, with the most recent death occurring in Saudi Arabia.
U.S. Central Command said the seventh service member died on Saturday after being seriously wounded during an Iranian attack on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. The name of the fallen warrior has not yet been released.