US confirms its Riyadh embassy was attacked by drones overnight

The United States embassy in Riyadh confirms it was attacked overnight and urges people to stay away, saying it will be closed today.

“Avoid the embassy until further notice due to an attack on the facility,” a statement says, urging American citizens to “shelter in place.”

The Saudi defense ministry had said that an attack by two drones on the US embassy in the early hours of Tuesday had sparked a small fire and “caused minor material damage to the building.”

Witnesses say they saw smoke over the building housing the US mission and heard loud explosions in the diplomatic quarter, home to foreign embassies in the Saudi capital.