U.S. Saudi Military Forces Failed To Detect Attack on Oil Facilities

(Wall Street Journal) Nancy A. Youssef Gordon Lubold Summer Said and Dion Nissenbaum Sept. 17 2019 WASHINGTONU.S. and Saudi military forces and their elaborate air-defense systems failed to detect the launch of airstrikes aimed at Saudi Arabian oil facilities allowing dozens of drones and missiles to hit their targets U.S. officials said. Saudi and U.S. focus had been largely on the kingdoms southern border with Yemen where Riyadh has been fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemens civil war the officials said. The attacks however originated from Iranian territory in the northern Persian Gulf people familiar with the investigation into the strikes said. As Saudi officials review information coming in from the U.S. Kuwait and their own investigators they are increasingly confident that drones and missiles launched near Irans southern border with Iraq flew low to the ground on their way to slamming into the heart of the Saudi oil industry early Saturday. Investigators have found debris that appears to be Iranian cruise-missile technology the people familiar with the investigation said. Everything points to them" a Saudi official said referring to Iran. The debris the intel and the points of impact."