Dammam Airport Attack: 2 Killed as U.S. Orders Staff Out of Saudi

What happened

The Dammam airport attack on Wednesday evening, Oct. 21, killed two people and injured eight at King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the country’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said.

GACA first put the toll at one dead, then raised it to two on Thursday: a Saudi citizen and a resident from India, according to Arab News. The eight injured were a Saudi citizen and residents from India, Yemen, Bangladesh and Nepal, with injuries described as ranging from minor to severe. The authority did not say what kind of weapon was used, and the extent of the damage was still being assessed.

By Thursday, flights had resumed and GACA said air traffic at the airport was back to normal.

A second deadly incident the same day

Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi air defenses shot down a drone heading for a facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field, near the border with the United Arab Emirates. Falling debris killed two workers, from the Philippines and Nepal, and injured two others, the Energy Ministry said, Reuters reported. A contractor’s vehicle caught fire outside the site, but the ministry said oil production was not affected.

That is why some early headlines gave a combined figure for the day. Taken together, the two incidents killed four people and injured 10.

Who is behind the attacks

No group had made a verified claim for the Dammam strike as of Thursday, and Saudi officials had not named the attacker. U.S. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott pointed to Yemen’s Houthi movement, saying the “Iranian-supported Houthis” have increasingly attacked Saudi Arabia, including its civilian airports and infrastructure.

The Houthis claimed an earlier strike on the same Dammam airport on Oct. 11, according to aviation site Migflug, and claimed a deadly strike on Riyadh’s main airport, NewsBytes reported.

How we got here

The attacks are tied to two overlapping conflicts.

• Yemen. The country’s civil war began in 2014, and a Saudi-led coalition has backed Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2015. A truce that had held for four years collapsed in June, ABC News reported. Government forces backed by Riyadh launched an offensive against the Houthis in early October, and since then the group has treated Saudi airports as a front line.
• Iran. The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which began in late February, has spilled across the Gulf. Iran has tried to block the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. has imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports. Uptick explained the shipping side of that crisis in our Strait of Hormuz explainer.

ABC described the attacks on Saudi Arabia this month as near-daily.

Timeline: Saudi airports hit in October

Sources: Migflug, Al Jazeera, Oman Observer and Arab News. Some outlets put the Oct. 10 Riyadh toll at 13. Al Jazeera also reported a separate strike on the Riyadh airport on Oct. 11 that killed one person and injured 11.

Laid out this way, the pattern is clear: at least five Saudi airports have been reported hit in a little over two weeks, and Dammam has now been targeted twice in 11 days. Riyadh’s airport had only partially reopened as of Wednesday.

Why it matters

For travelers. Several foreign carriers, including Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Etihad, Delta and Qatar Airways, have suspended flights, Migflug reported, citing Al Jazeera. Australia raised its advice for Saudi Arabia to “do not travel” last week.

For diplomats. The State Department’s “ordered departure” means nonemergency U.S. government staff and their families are required to leave, not just allowed to. Pigott said the order covers Saudi Arabia only, but four U.S. officials told Reuters that missions elsewhere in the Gulf would also tell family members to go.

For energy markets. The Eastern Province is the heart of Saudi oil production. Wednesday’s Shaybah incident did not disrupt output, but it shows that oil sites are also in range.

What happens next

• The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh warned on Wednesday that more Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia are possible.
• The Saudi-led coalition says it keeps intercepting drones, including several over the Eastern Province and the Medina region on Oct. 21 and 22.
• GACA has said it will release more details on damage at the Dammam airport.

Quick answers

How many people were killed in the Dammam airport attack?

Two people were killed and eight injured, according to Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority. The first official count was one dead.

Is Dammam airport open?

Yes. GACA said operations resumed on Oct. 22 and traffic had returned to normal.

Who attacked King Fahd International Airport?

As of Oct. 22, no verified claim had been made and Saudi officials had not named an attacker. The U.S. government blames the wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.