Attacks on Saudi oil expose Iraqi PM’s struggle to control armed factions
A senior Iraqi source points to a resistance 'splinter' group for the September attack on the East-West pipeline.
As black smoke billowed over Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, the repercussions of the drone attack were already reaching across the border into Iraq.
The strikes, launched from Iraqi territory, threatened about 4 percent of global oil supplies and helped push Brent crude above $108 a barrel. But they also presented Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi with perhaps the clearest test yet of his pledge to bring armed groups under state control as the US-led coalition is due to make its final withdrawal by September 30.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks launched last Thursday. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella of pro-Iranian factions including Kataib Hezbollah, has denied involvement, calling the strike “an honour that we do not claim”.
Zaidi has attempted to balance relations with his neighbours, receiving Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in August just shy of a month after the Iraqi Prime Minister made an official visit to Tehran, where he met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.