US warns citizens to avoid Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON – The United States has repeated its advice that private US citizens leave Saudi Arabia and a US official said Washington continued to receive general information about threats to Western interests in the kingdom.

The United States has twice this year strongly urged US citizens to leave Saudi Arabia after attacks on Westerners in the world’s largest oil exporter and pulled nonessential diplomats from its embassy in Riyadh. A US State Department official said the recommendation to Americans remains the same because the threats persist.”The embassy continues to receive information concerning potential threats to American and Western interests.We believed it was appropriate and in keeping with our no-double standards policy to make sure the general public had updated information,” said the official who asked not to be named.The official stressed that the United States had not received any new information on a specific threat.The embassy in Riyadh estimates that the US population in Saudi Arabia is around 24 000 or 25 000, down 20 percent from what they say was originally 30 000, before departures related to a series of attacks on foreigners chiefly blamed on Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.The US-Saudi alliance has been strained since the Sept.11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington carried out by al Qaeda.Most of the hijackers were Saudis.- Nampa-ReutersA US State Department official said the recommendation to Americans remains the same because the threats persist.”The embassy continues to receive information concerning potential threats to American and Western interests.We believed it was appropriate and in keeping with our no-double standards policy to make sure the general public had updated information,” said the official who asked not to be named.The official stressed that the United States had not received any new information on a specific threat.The embassy in Riyadh estimates that the US population in Saudi Arabia is around 24 000 or 25 000, down 20 percent from what they say was originally 30 000, before departures related to a series of attacks on foreigners chiefly blamed on Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.The US-Saudi alliance has been strained since the Sept.11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington carried out by al Qaeda.Most of the hijackers were Saudis.- Nampa-Reuters