Senior MP:

Saudi Allegations against Iraq Aimed at Pressuring Hashd Al-Shaabi

A senior member of the Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee said that Saudi Arabia's allegations about Iraq's involvement in attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities are aimed antagonizing Hashd al-Shaabi popular forces and laying the ground for attacking them.

News ID: 447115

Date: 18 September 2019 - 23:31

RNA - "The drones which targeted the depth of Saudi Arabia flew from the Yemeni territories and the Saudi government's allegations that Iraq's soil has been used for these attacks are not true," Karim al-Mahmadawi told the Arabic-language al-Ma'aloumeh news website on Tuesday.

He dismissed any involvement of the Iraqi government in the Yemenis' offensives against Saudi Arabia, and stressed that Baghdad seeks to resolve the Yemen crisis through political means.

"Saudi Arabia is attempting to introduce Hashd al-Shaabi as an armed group affiliated to Iran and use it as a pretext to target Hashd al-Shaabi's positions inside Iraq in collaboration with Washington," al-Mahmadawi said.

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement announced on Saturday that its drones had successfully attacked two oil plants in the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, stressing that the attacks were a firm response to Riyadh’s relentless bombardment of Yemen.

Abqaiq, 60 km (37 miles) Southwest of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, contains the world’s largest oil processing plant. Khurais, 190 km further Southwest, contains the country’s second largest oilfield.

Saudi stocks fell sharply on Sunday, after attacks on two plants at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry on Saturday knocked out more than half of the crude output.

Spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Monday that his country was ready for another attack on Saudi facilities, urging foreign companies and workers to immediately leave their working sites in the kingdom for their safety.

Speaking to Arabic-language al-Masireh news channel, Brigadier General Saree said the Yemeni forces used ordinary and jet engines in their drones which hit Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais during Operation Equation Deterrence II.

He then warned that another attack may be soon launched on Saudi facilities, and urged foreign companies and operators working at energy, power and other facilities to immediately leave the sites to avoid being hurt in the attacks.

The Yemeni commander then addressed Saudi officials, and underlined that the Yemeni Army is capable of hitting any target in Saudi Arabia at any time it wishes.

“Riyadh must reconsider its calculations and stop its attacks and blockade against Yemen,” he affirmed.

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