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A military projectile struck a residential neighbourhood in Saudi Arabia's Al Kharj governorate on Sunday, killing two foreign nationals and wounding 12 others, in what authorities described as the first confirmed fatalities on Saudi soil since the outbreak of hostilities between Iran and a US-Israeli coalition.
Saudi Arabia's civil defence agency said an Indian citizen and a Bangladeshi citizen died when the projectile hit a populated area in the governorate, located roughly 80 kilometres south of the capital Riyadh. Twelve others sustained injuries. The statement did not identify the origin of the projectile or name Iran directly.
The deaths mark a grim escalation for a kingdom that, until now, had avoided casualties even as its territory came under repeated fire. Al Kharj has been targeted multiple times over the past week as Iranian missiles and drones have struck Gulf states in retaliation for the US-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic republic.
Al Kharj is is home to Prince Sultan Air Base, one of the largest military air installations in the Middle East. The sprawling facility, which covers roughly 80 square miles, has served as a critical staging ground for US and allied air operations since the 1990s, housing American forces during Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom.
In 2019, Washington deployed some 2,000 additional troops to the base alongside B-1B bombers, F-22 stealth fighters, and Patriot missile batteries following Iranian attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The base also functions as a major hub for the Royal Saudi Air Force.
The civil defence agency's statement offered no detail on the condition of the 12 injured, nor on their nationalities.
Notably absent from the Saudi civil defence statement was any mention of Iran. The agency referred only to a "military projectile," without specifying its type or origin. The omission is consistent with Riyadh's cautious diplomatic posture throughout the current conflict.
Saudi Arabia has historically sought to avoid direct confrontation with Tehran, even during periods of intense proxy warfare across the region, and the kingdom's leadership appears determined to keep that channel open even as Iranian ordnance falls on Saudi territory.
The restraint stands in contrast to statements from other Gulf governments and Western officials who have explicitly attributed the strikes to Iran.
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