Multiple sources familiar with regional military activity say Saudi fighter jets carried out strikes on targets linked to Tehran-backed Shi'ite militias inside Iraq, and that retaliatory rocket strikes were launched from Kuwaiti territory into Iraq during the recent war.
According to three Iraqi security and military officials, a Western official, and two people briefed on the matter (including one in the United States), the Saudi operations hit Iran-affiliated militia sites close to the kingdom's northern border with Iraq. One Western official and a person briefed on the matter said the Saudi air force carried out the strikes.
Those same sources said some of the Saudi actions occurred around the time of the April 7 U.S.-Iran ceasefire. The measures targeted locations from which drone and missile strikes had been launched against Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, the sources added.
Separately, Iraqi sources and those briefed said rockets were fired on at least two occasions from Kuwaiti territory into Iraq. One set of those strikes hit militia positions in southern Iraq in April, killing several fighters and destroying a facility used by the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah for communications and drone operations, the Iraqi sources said.
There remains uncertainty about who launched the rockets from Kuwaiti soil. Reuters could not determine whether the rockets were fired by Kuwaiti armed forces or by U.S. military personnel based in Kuwait; U.S. forces declined to comment. Kuwait's information ministry and Iraq's government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Saudi foreign ministry official was quoted as saying the kingdom sought de-escalation, self-restraint and "the reduction of tensions in pursuit of the stability, security and prosperity of the region," but that statement did not address the reported strikes inside Iraq. A spokesperson for Kataib Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier reporting by news agencies indicated that Saudi Arabia launched strikes directly on Iran during the war in retaliation for attacks on the kingdom, and that the United Arab Emirates carried out similar strikes. Multiple sources told reporters that hundreds of the drones that targeted Gulf states originated in Iraq, the people said.
Throughout the conflict, militia-linked Telegram channels repeatedly published statements claiming responsibility for attacks on targets across the Gulf, including in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, though the authenticity of those posts could not be independently verified.
According to the sources, sustained attacks from a secondary front inside Iraq pushed Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to respond more forcefully to the militias, which together command tens of thousands of fighters and possess arsenals that include missiles and drones.
Diplomatic protests followed the cross-border activity. Kuwait summoned Iraq's representative in the country three times during the war to protest both the attacks and the storming of the Kuwaiti consulate in Basra on April 7. Saudi Arabia summoned Iraq's ambassador on April 12 to lodge its own protest against attacks across the border, the sources said.
Gulf states' relations with Baghdad have long been shaped by mutual distrust. The reporting notes that historical grievances and developments in Iraq have repeatedly troubled ties with Gulf Arab states, and that the empowerment of Shi'ite political factions and armed groups in Iraq has raised concerns in the Gulf. Those groups are described as operating with significant autonomy and have mounted attacks across national boundaries.
A China-brokered détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023 had been seen as an opportunity for wider regional stabilization; however, the outbreak of the war has placed those diplomatic gains under severe strain and has drawn Gulf states into a conflict they had sought to avoid, the sources said.
In the months preceding the strikes, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had warned Baghdad through diplomatic channels in March to curb rocket and drone attacks by pro-Iranian groups against Gulf states, according to two Iraqi security officials and a government security adviser cited by the reporting. Iraqi forces say they intercepted some attempted attacks, including seizing a rocket launcher west of Basra that had been intended to strike Saudi energy facilities.
Despite those interceptions, sources said Iran-backed militias continued to operate surveillance drones along Iraq's borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, conducting reconnaissance and passing intelligence to Iran. Four Iraqi security sources and one person briefed on the matter described that surveillance activity, and one of the people briefed warned, "They are gathering information on what has been damaged, what is still working. They are preparing for the next strike."
The broader conflict triggered strikes by Iran on Gulf states and Israel after a series of joint Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran on February 28. Those exchanges have rattled global markets and, at one point, led to the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz - the artery through which roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments move.
For now, official responses to the reported strikes inside Iraq are limited. The U.S. military declined to comment on the rockets fired from Kuwait, while Kuwait and Iraq did not immediately respond to inquiries. Saudi officials emphasized calls for restraint and regional stability but did not address strikes on Iraqi territory in their public remarks.
Given the range of actors involved, the varying attributions of responsibility, and the partial opacity surrounding many of the military actions, the full scope and long-term implications of these cross-border strikes remain unclear to outside observers and to the sources contacted for this reporting.