Saudi Arabia covertly launched strikes on Iran during war, sources say |
Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the war, two Western officials briefed on the matter and two Iranian officials said.
The Saudi attacks, not previously reported, mark the first time that the kingdom is known to have directly carried out military action on Iranian soil and show it is becoming much bolder in defending itself against its main regional rival.
The attacks, launched by the Saudi Air Force, were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two Western officials said. One said only that they were “tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi [Arabia] was hit.”
Reuters was unable to confirm what the specific targets were.
In response to a request for comment, a senior Saudi foreign ministry official did not directly address whether strikes had been carried out.
The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia, which has a deep military relationship with the United States, has traditionally relied on the US military for protection, but the 10-week war has left the kingdom vulnerable to attacks that have pierced the US military umbrella.
Since the war began, Iran has hit all six Gulf Cooperation Council states with missiles and drones, attacking not only US military bases but civilian sites, airports and oil infrastructure, and closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global trade.
This marks the second Gulf country to join the United States and Israel in their war against the Islamic Republic, after it was reported that the United Arab Emirates also secretly carried out multiple military strikes on Iran.
Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the UAE carried out strikes before and after the April 8 ceasefire.
One of the strikes — a response to the April 5 Iran attack on the Emirati Borouge petrochemicals site — was “coordinated” with Israel, Bloomberg said.
According to one source, the two cooperated on Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars petrochemical complex the next day.
Throughout the war, cooperation between the two countries included the sharing of intelligence, detection and interception of Iranian missiles and drones, and selecting Iranian targets, said the sources.
During the US-Israel war on Iran, Tehran launched sustained attacks on the UAE, firing some 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more........