Iranian-backed militias carried out a precision strike last month, hitting the pumping stations of Saudi Arabia’s most important oil pipeline. Days later, another attack hit a Saudi military air base, damaging an Italian fighter jet inside a hangar.
Crucial to the strikes’ success was what was happening in the skies overhead: For days beforehand, a constellation of Russian spy satellites converged over the pipeline and the air base to gather intelligence.
A private geospatial intelligence firm said it examined 40 missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and militias in Iraq between July 1 and October 19. In every case, the firm found the same pattern of Russian Government and military satellites orbiting above the areas for days before and after.
“What we found is a 100 per cent match” between the satellite activities and strikes, said Nawaf Obaid, founder of Geneva-based AURORAH Geosignal Intelligence. The findings illustrate how Russia is believed to be helping Iran and its allies in the region target Saudi Arabia’s oil and military infrastructure in attacks that have helped raise global energy prices.
Three officials, including one from Saudi Arabia and another in the top ranks of the Houthis, as well as a private intelligence analyst, told The Associated Press that the Houthis and other Iranian allies have benefited from Russian intelligence, as well as Chinese capabilities. Iranian advisers in the field analyzed and transferred the intelligence to their allies, according to AP reporting. The Saudi Foreign Ministry’s deputy minister for public diplomacy, Rayed Krimly, told reporters last week that Iran and the Houthis receive intelligence from “elements in Russia and China, even commercial elements sometimes.” “We do discuss these matters regularly with China and Russia, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
Russian officials had no immediate comment when asked about the allegations, including AURORAH’s findings. Russia and Iran have a longstanding military cooperation arrangement, including transferring drone technology. While Russia has not been directly involved in the wars in the region, US and European officials have said Russia has shared intelligence with Iran. On the morning of September 10, multiple drone strikes from Iraq hit three critical pumping stations along Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, immediately interrupting the flow of oil. The 1,200-kilometre (746-mile) pipeline across the kingdom has been a vital alternative route for getting its crude to market amid Iran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.