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Iran's Drones Menace Saudi Arabia

(Atlantic Council) Ilan Zalayat - Iranian-made armed drones have undercut the security balance in the Gulf region and the Arabian Peninsula over the past few years. Ever since the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen began in 2015 against the Shia Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia's doorstep, the Saudi kingdom has increasingly become a target for airborne attacks by the Houthis using missiles provided by Tehran. Since 2017, the Houthis have employed explosive-laden drones that are assembled with components shipped from Iran. They are nearly identical to the Ababil-T drones used by Iran and Hizbullah. In recent years, the Houthis have used Iranian-made Sammad-2 and Sammad-3 drones, whose range exceeded hundreds of miles. In January, satellite images suggested the deployment in Yemen of Iranian Shahed-136 loitering suicide drones (with a range of 1,200 miles), having the ability to cover the entire Arabian Peninsula. In September 2019, Iran launched at least twenty drones and fired dozens of cruise missiles at the Aramco oil refineries in Abqaiq and Khurais. The U.S. confirmed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched them from Iran. In February, three drones from Shia militias in Iraq crashed inside the complex of King Salman's palace in Riyadh. In March, the world's largest oil terminal in Ras Tanura port on Saudi Arabia's eastern coast was pounded by multiple drones. The writer is a PhD student in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University.
2021-11-01 00:00:00
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