The Saudi Guides

FCDO Issues Saudi Arabia Yemen Border Warning on 9 July

· 2 min read Travel News
Asir mountain landscape in southern Saudi Arabia near the Yemen border

Contents

  1. Which Areas Are Affected
  2. Riyadh, Jeddah and Tourist Sites Are Unaffected
  3. Practical Advice

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) updated its Saudi Arabia travel advice on 9 July 2026, maintaining its strongest warnings for the southern border zone:

  • Advises against all travel within 10km of the Saudi–Yemen border
  • Advises against all but essential travel to areas between 10km and 80km from the Yemen border

This guidance covers the entire length of the border with Yemen, including districts within the Asir, Jizan, and Najran regions. Ongoing cross-border Houthi activity and periodic air defence intercepts near the border corridor are the basis for the warning.

Which Areas Are Affected

The towns and cities closest to the restricted zone include:

  • Jizan (approx. 60km from the border at its nearest point) - falls within the “all but essential” zone
  • Najran - sits approximately 15km from the border at its nearest, placing much of the city and surrounding valleys within the all-travel-against zone
  • Abha (Asir region) - the city itself sits further north and is not directly in the affected corridor, but access roads toward the border are within the warning zone

Riyadh, Jeddah and Tourist Sites Are Unaffected

The current FCDO advisory does not affect the destinations most international visitors to Saudi Arabia are travelling to:

  • Riyadh - normal travel; no restriction
  • Jeddah and the Red Sea coast - normal travel; no restriction
  • AlUla - normal travel; no restriction
  • NEOM and Tabuk region - no border-zone restriction
  • The Asir highland towns (Abha city, Tanomah) - outside the 80km zone; accessible without restriction

Practical Advice

Anyone with plans to travel near the border zone should:

  1. Monitor the FCDO advisory at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/saudi-arabia before departure
  2. Check your insurer - many policies exclude travel to areas where the FCDO advises against all but essential travel
  3. Register your travel via the FCDO’s LOCATE service or your national foreign ministry equivalent

For a full overview of safety and entry requirements, see our Saudi Arabia safety guide.