WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Sunday it ordered non-essential U.S. diplomats and U.S. government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks.

The United States began to pull out non-essential staff from Gulf Arab countries last Monday, three days into the war. The U.S. embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday approved voluntary departures, four days into the war and on the same day that it was struck by Iranian drones that led to a fire that damaged the mission’s facilities.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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