NewzIraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered security agencies to investigate after the Saudis alleged a similar attack on Monday. The US military says it knocked down an Iranian missile barrage and worked with Saudi forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed militias used to launch attacks in recent days, shattering a brief pause in the fighting. Saudi Arabia confirmed its involvement in US strikes targeting militias in Iraq linked to attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities.
(US Centcom pic)WASHINGTON: US and Saudi warplanes carried out strikes on Tuesday against Iran-backed militants in Iraq who launched more than two dozen drone attacks in recent days, the US military said.The strikes targeted "Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure," US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.It further warned that "the IRGC and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further US military response."Saudi Arabia confirmed its involvement in the strikes, with its defence ministry saying it hit "targets belonging to those militias present on Iraqi territory that are linked to attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities."The strikes came after the ministry said its forces had intercepted drones targeting oil facilities in the east, blaming Iran-backed groups in Iraq.Riyadh called the previous day for the Iraqi government to prevent attacks from its territory, after which Baghdad said it had ordered an investigation.Centcom had said earlier Tuesday that Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles in an "attempted surprise attack on US forces based in the Middle East," but that all of them were intercepted.Both sides had held fire over the weekend, following nearly two weeks of nightly strikes by the United States on Iran, and repeated missile and drone salvos by Tehran targeting Washington's allies around the Gulf. The Houthis recently declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, targeting several tankers. A Houthi military spokesman said the latest attack on a Saudi tanker in the Red Sea forced the vessel to turn around.
(EPA Images pic)SANAA: Yemen's Houthi rebels said Tuesday they targeted a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles for violating a blockade on the kingdom's ports announced by the Iran-backed group.Saudi Arabia had yet to comment on the Houthis' claim, but reported having intercepted drones targeting oil facilities in its east, blaming pro-Iran militias in Iraq."The targeting of the Saudi vessel came after it ignored warnings," a Houthi military spokesman said, identifying the ship as the NCC Ghazal and adding it had been "forced to turn back".The website MarineTraffic, owned by maritime tracking firm Kpler, listed the Ghazal as a Saudi-flagged tanker whose last known location was the port of Yanbu, the terminus of an important oil pipeline on the kingdom's Red Sea coast.Last week, the Iran-backed Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have since claimed attacks targeting Saudi tankers and oil infrastructure.The blockade has threatened Saudi Arabia's ability to get its supplies to the world following Iran's parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after hostilities resumed the Middle East war, cutting off the kingdom's only other maritime route.Riyadh last week struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the threats to Red Sea shipping.A Saudi-led military coalition had fought against the Houthis in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government after war broke out in the country in 2015.The latest flare-up marks the first time in years that two sides have traded blows, threatening a 2022 truce in the previous conflict that has held despite expiring.A spokesman for the Saudi defence ministry said late Tuesday that "aerial defences intercepted and destroyed several drones that attempted to target oil installations" in the country's east.The spokesman, Turki al-Maliki, added that "these new terrorist attacks were launched from Iraqi territory and carried out by militias linked to Iran".It was the second day in a row Riyadh had blamed Iran-backed groups in Iraq for launching attacks.Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations had accused pro-Iran militias in Iraq of launching waves of attacks on their territory earlier in the Middle East war, but the groups haven't claimed any attacks in the region since th… Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it shot down drones fired by Iran-backed militias in Iraq for a second day, while Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have forced a Saudi oil tanker to turn around as part of their self-styled blockade of the kingdom. The attacks underscored lingering tensions despite a period of calm between the United States and Iran, neither of which has announced attacks for days following weeks of escalation over the Strait of Hormuz.
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