Investigation Finds Russian Satellites Assisted Houthi Strikes on Saudi Arabia

An investigation has found that Russian military satellites have been assisting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in striking Saudi Arabia's military and energy infrastructure, further upending global energy markets amid the United States' war on Iran.

According to reporting by The Associated Press, Geneva-based private firm AURORAH GeoSignal Intelligence examined 40 missile and drone attacks by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia between July 1 and October 19. In every case, it found a pattern of Russian government and military satellites observing the targeted areas both before and after the attacks.

AURORAH founder Nawaf Obaid told Al Jazeera that by reconstructing Russia's military reconnaissance architecture, the firm identified individual satellites, calculated their orbital trajectories and correlated their activity with military developments across Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Yemen.

The satellites identified include Russia's Bars-M military mapping satellites, Persona optical reconnaissance satellites, Lotos-S1 electronic intelligence satellites, Pion-NKS maritime reconnaissance systems and Kondor-FKA radar-imaging satellites. The firm also examined the EKS/Tundra infrared early-warning constellation.

Obaid said the critical finding was not the presence of individual Russian satellites, but the sequencing and integration of their complementary intelligence capabilities. Based on the findings, he said, Russian military geospatial and signals intelligence has supported the Iranian-led intelligence architecture assisting Houthi operations in Yemen.

He said the strongest operational example was the Houthi offensive along Yemen's western coast towards Bab al-Mandeb, where Russian-derived intelligence, Iranian command integration and local human intelligence all contributed to the rapid deterioration of opposing Yemeni forces' battlefield coordination. The Houthis seized full control of Yemen's Red Sea coast in September.

Last month, the Houthis carried out a precision strike on pumping stations on Saudi Arabia's most important oil pipeline, the East-West pipeline. Obaid said the September attacks struck three pumping stations — PS8 at Afif, PS9 at Al-Dhekra and PS11 at Al-Mesba'ah — in the pipeline's critical high-elevation western section, and that their selection reflected an understanding of the infrastructure's engineering vulnerabilities and strategic importance.

Brussels-based military analyst Elijah Magnier cautioned that the findings do not necessarily show the whole picture. He said an inability to intercept an intelligence transmission does not establish who had access to the Russian satellite information, whether Russia deliberately shared it, or whether Iran obtained it independently, and he outlined four possible scenarios, the first being that Russia deliberately shared information with Iran.

Analysts say the seizure of state arsenals, external backing and extensive military evolution have enabled the Houthis to build a powerful arsenal. Hostilities between the internationally recognised Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, and the Houthis have been ongoing since July and escalated in September when the group seized full control of Yemen's Red Sea coast.