UN monitors say Houthis not behind Saudi Aramco attacks: Report – By Al Jazeera Newsroom (Al Jazeera) / Jan 9 2020
Houthi-claimed attacks on two major Saudi oil facilities in September caused a spike in global oil prices.
A report by United Nations sanctions monitors has said Yemen’s Houthi rebels did not carry out an attack in September that set ablaze two major Saudi oil facilities, Reuters news agency reported.
The United States, European countries and Saudi Arabia accused Iran of being behind the attack on Saudi Aramco oil plants in Abqaiq and Khurais that was claimed by the Houthis. Iran has denied any involvement.
According to the report seen by Reuters on Wednesday, the independent UN experts to the Security Council Yemen sanctions committee said: “That despite their claims to the contrary, the Houthi forces did not launch the attacks on Abqaiq and Khurais on 14 September 2019.”
Riyadh, which is backing Yemen’s internationally recognised government in its fight against the Houthis, has long accused Iran of supplying the rebels with weapons. Tehran says it supports the rebels diplomatically and politically but has repeatedly denied providing them with any military aid.
The reported findings by the UN monitors come amid escalating tensions in the region after the US assassinated top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq last week and Tehran retaliated on Wednesday by firing missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops.
The UN investigators said they doubted that the drones and land-attack cruise missiles used in the September 14 attack “have a sufficient range to have been launched from Yemeni territory under the control of the Houthis.”
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