BAGHDAD (AP) – Explosive drones targeting Saudi Arabia’s royal palace in the kingdom’s capital last month have been launched from inside Iraq, a senior Iranian-backed military official in Baghdad and a U.S. official have said. .
The military official spoke to The Associated Press this week, saying that three drones from a relatively unknown Iraq-backed faction in Iraq had been launched from Iraq-Saudi border areas and crashed on January 23 in the royal complex in Riyadh, killing the tensions in the region worsen.
Attacks on the Saudi capital were sporadic amid the kingdom’s years-long war against neighboring Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Earlier this month, the rebels targeted an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia with bomb-laden drones, which set off a civilian plane on the tarmac.
However, the Iranian Houthi rebels denied carrying out the January 23 attack on Saudi Arabia’s Yamama Palace.
The remarks by the senior Iraqi military official are the first time that a group backed by Iran has acknowledged that Iraq was the origin of the attack, and point to the challenge Baghdad faces in the attacks of military factions in Iraq supported by Iran.
It follows a claim of responsibility allegedly issued by a little-known group called Awliya Wa’ad al-Haq, or ‘The True Promise Brigades’, which circulated on social media calling it retaliation for’ a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group. on January 21 in a Baghdad shopping area.
The militia official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack, said the drones came “in parts of Iran and were collected in Iraq and launched from Iraq. ” He did not disclose where the drones were launched along the border, and did not provide further details about the group claiming the attack.
Iran-backed groups have splintered significantly since the Washington-led strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad more than a year ago. Both have been key to the control and management of a wide range of Iraq – backed groups working in Iraq.
Since their deaths, militias have become increasingly thoughtless and diverse. Some analysts in Washington claim that the militias have become fragmented to allow them to claim attacks under different names to hide their involvement.
A US official said Washington believed the attack on Yamama Palace on January 23 was launched from inside Iraq. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not elaborate or say how the US came to this conclusion.
An Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the regulations, said US intelligence was being shared with the Iraqi government.
Launching a strike from Iraq would be a challenge for Saudi air defense, which is now focused on threats from Iran in the northeast and Yemen in the south. Such drones are also small enough and fly low enough to the ground not to be picked up on the radar.
The attack comes as Iraq seeks to deepen economic ties with Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies over a variety of investment projects. Last week, Iraqi President Barham Salih visited the United Arab Emirates and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein apparently visited Saudi Arabia this week, apparently to discuss the attack.
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Associated Press authors Robert Burns in Washington and Samya Kullab in Baghdad contributed to this report.