PMF, Houthis: Relational coordination under mullahs banner

Ahmed Samy Abdel-Fatah

U.S. officials have said drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in May originated in Iraq, not Yemen drawing rejection and questions from Iraqi officials who have asked Washington for more information supporting the claim.

The Iraqi rejection to this matter stems from several indications; first of all, Baghdad does not want to create a new diplomatic crisis with Riyadh.

This will also affirm the incapability of the Iraqi central government and its lack of control over the Iranian militia on its land.

Furthermore, such attack would put Iraq at odds with the United States and other countries that demanded the disbandment of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Force (PMF), especially that the war with Daesh was declared to have ended. However, Iraq chose to integrate this militia into the army, but not under the leadership of the Iraqi military as claimed.

On the other hand, the Houthi’s declaration of responsibility for the incident is not a surprising matter, also, publishing footages of the attack only confirms strong coordination between Shiite militias in the region.

The drone attack happened two days after four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, were damaged by sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

The attacks took place against a backdrop of U.S.-Iranian tension following Washington’s move to cut Tehran’s oil exports to zero and beef up its military presence in the Gulf in response to Iranian threats to the region.

For his part, Middle East Affairs Expert and Researcher Mohamed Hamid told The Reference in an interview that this conclusion by the United States Intelligence indicates deep military and intel communication and cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

He added that the U.S. studied the matter to study vulnerabilities within the Saudi Air Defense system, before figuring out that the attack was launched from Iraq, and not Yemen as claimed by the Houthis.