Reuters: Saudi Arabia conducted airstrikes on Iranian territory

Follow-ups – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

Reuters news agency quoted Western and Iranian sources confirming that Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes inside Iranian territory during the recent war, an unprecedented shift in Riyadh’s military policy towards Tehran.

The sources said that these strikes came in response to missile and drone attacks that targeted the Kingdom as part of the regional escalation that followed American and Israeli raids on Iran.

According to what Reuters reported from Western and Iranian officials, the Saudi Air Force carried out the raids in late March, in the first direct military operation transferring the confrontation to Iranian depth, despite continued secrecy regarding the nature of the targets bombed inside Iran, with both Saudi and Iranian parties refraining from issuing any official confirmation or direct denial.

The sources indicated that Saudi Arabia, unlike the UAE, which adopted a more escalatory stance against Iran, simultaneously sought to prevent the war from expanding into a full-scale confrontation in the region while keeping political communication channels open with Tehran in parallel with military operations.

According to the information, Riyadh informed the Iranian side of the strikes before engaging in intensive diplomatic communications that ended with an undeclared understanding to de-escalate, which came into effect days before the announcement of the ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran in early April.