BAGHDAD (AP) – Explosive-laden drones targeting Saudi Arabia’s royal palace in the kingdom’s capital last month were launched from Iraq, a senior Iran-backed militia official in Baghdad and a US official said.
Speaking to The Associated Press this week, the militia official said three drones were launched from the Iraqi-Saudi border areas by a relatively unknown Iranian-backed faction in Iraq and crashed into the royal complex in Riyadh on January 23, exacerbating regional tensions. .
Attacks on the Saudi capital were sporadic amid the kingdom’s years of war against neighboring Yemeni Houthi rebels. Earlier this month, the rebels targeted an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia with bomb-laden drones, setting a civilian plane on fire on the tarmac.
However, the Iran-targeted Houthi rebels denied carrying out an attack targeting the Yamama Palace in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 23.
The comments of the senior Iraqi militia official mark the first time an Iran-backed group has acknowledged that Iraq was the origin of the attack, and points to the challenge Baghdad faces in stopping attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
It followed a responsibility claim 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 attack carried out by the Islamic State group in a major shopping area in Baghdad on January 21.
The militia official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack, said the drones “came in parts from Iran and were collected in Iraq and launched from Iraq.” He did not disclose where the drones were launched along the border or provide details of the group claiming the attack.
Iranian-backed groups have fragmented significantly since the Washington-led attack that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad more than a year ago. Both played a key role in leading and controlling a wide variety of Iranian-backed groups operating in Iraq.
Since their death, militias have become increasingly unruly and unequal. Some Washington analysts argue that the militias have only fragmented, allowing them to claim attacks under different names to mask their involvement.
A US official said Washington believes the Jan. 23 attack on the Yamama Palace was launched from Iraq. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not elaborate or say how the US came to this conclusion.
An Iraqi official who spoke in accordance with the regulations on condition of anonymity said the US intelligence was shared with the Iraqi government.
Launching an attack from Iraq would challenge Saudi air defense, which now targets threats from Iran in the northeast and Yemen from 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 allies in the Gulf through a variety of investment projects. Last week, President Barham Salih visited the United Arab Emirates and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein visited Saudi Arabia this week, apparently to discuss the attack.
Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington and Samya Kullab in Baghdad contributed to this report.