“Attack on Saudi Arabia Took Place Through Our Airspace”
The chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries said that attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities were carried out through the airspace of the “Gulf Cooperation Council.” They emphasized the principle of collective efforts to protect the territorial integrity of these countries.
The chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the Gulf Arab states on Thursday, October 3 (Mehr 11), condemned the use of their airspace to carry out last month’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. Saudi Arabia and the United States have held Iran responsible for this attack.
The attack on the Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities, which belong to Saudi oil company Aramco, took place on September 14 and led to an increase in oil prices and severe damage to Saudi Arabia’s oil industry. According to the International Energy Agency, this incident caused the most serious disruption in oil supply throughout history.
The Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks, but according to US officials, the attacks originated from southwestern Iran. Riyadh also holds Iran responsible as the backer of the Houthis in the Yemen war, and denies the accusations against itself.
The meeting of the chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the GCC member states was held in Riyadh at Saudi Arabia’s request. Besides Saudi Arabia, five smaller countries—Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait—are members of this political-commercial bloc.
Participants in the meeting condemned last month’s attacks and other attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure, as well as previous attacks on ships transiting the Persian Gulf.
In a statement released after the meeting, “violations of the airspace of some countries to carry out recent attacks on Saudi Arabia” were also condemned.
In this way, the statement supports the US report on the attacks. The US report indicates that the missiles or drones used to attack Saudi Arabia were launched from the airspace of one of the country’s neighboring states located to its east, not from Yemen, which is located to its south.
The chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the GCC member states emphasized the principle of collective security and called for joint efforts by their military forces. They stated that they support operations by Saudi Arabia or any other GCC member state to protect its territory.
