Drone attack on Saudi royal palace launched

Explosive-laden drones that targeted Saudi Arabia's royal palace in the kingdom's capital last month were launched from inside Iraq, a senior Iran-backed militia official in Baghdad and a US official said.

Speaking to The Associated Press this week, the militia official said three drones were launched from IraqiSaudi border areas by a relatively unknown Iran-backed faction in Iraq and crashed into the royal complex in Riyadh on January 23, exacerbating regional tensions.

Attacks on the Saudi capital have been sporadic amid the kingdom's yearslong war against neighbouring Yemen's Houthi rebels. Earlier this month, the rebels targeted an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia with bomb-laden drones, causing a civilian plane on the tarmac to catch fire.

The Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, however, denied carrying out an attack that targeted Saudi Arabia's Yamama Palace on January 23.