US Embassy in Saudi Arabia hit with Iranian drones

Iran struck the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early on Tuesday as it kept hitting targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what US President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month.

The attack from two drones on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a "limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound.

It followed an attack on the US Embassy in Kuwait, and the US State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan as a precaution.

Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning, with witnesses describing hearing aircraft overhead. It was not immediately clear what had been hit. And in Lebanon, Israel launched more strikes on Hizbollah, the Iran-backed militia group.

The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possibly prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.

Associated Press