Saudi warplanes struck Iran-backed militias in Iraq during the Gulf war - report
Saudi jets hit militia positions near the kingdom's northern border as Kuwait also launched retaliatory strikes into southern Iraq, sources say.
Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Iran-linked militia targets inside Iraq during the recent war with Iran, while rockets were also fired into Iraqi territory from Kuwait, multiple sources familiar with the matter have said. This is according to a Reuters report citing three Iraqi security and military officials, a Western official, and two additional people briefed on the matter.
The strikes targeted sites near the kingdom's northern border with Iraq from which drones and missiles had been launched at Gulf states. The strikes are part of a broader pattern of military activity that remained largely concealed during a conflict that has drawn in much of the Middle East since joint Israeli-US strikes on Iran on February 28.
According to the aforementioned sources, hundreds of the drones that struck Gulf targets during the war originated from Iraq. Some of the Saudi strikes took place around the time of the April 7 US-Iran ceasefire. In Kuwait, Iraqi security sources say, on at least two occasions, rocket attacks were launched from Kuwaiti territory, with one set of strikes in April killing several fighters and destroying a Kataib Hezbollah facility used for communications and drone operations. Reuters could not determine whether the rockets were fired by Kuwaiti forces or the US military, which maintains a large presence there.
Saudi Arabia also struck Iranian soil directly during the war, marking the first known instance of Riyadh hitting Iranian territory. The UAE carried out similar strikes. A Saudi foreign ministry official said the kingdom sought de-escalation and stability in the region but did not address the Iraq strikes specifically.
Gulf-Iraq relations have long been defined by deep mistrust, stretching back to Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iran-backed militias continue to fly surveillance drones along Iraq's borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. "They are gathering information on what has been damaged, and what is still working," one source said. "They are preparing for the next strike."