October 30, 2026
There is always a tendency to blame the big bad enemy de-jour for a loss of a war against some relatively minor enemy.
Thus it was Iranian EFP's ( made in Iraq) that were to blame for the defeat of U.S. forces in Iraq. It likewise was Soviet support that let the U.S. lose its pants in Vietnam.
Now it is Russia's fault that Saudi Arabia's infrastructure gets hit by Yemeni weapons.
That is at least what this shoddy AP piece implies:
Russian satellites help Iran's allies strike Saudi Arabia, data and officials say - AP, Oct 27 2026
Iranian-backed militias carried out a precision strike last month, hitting the pumping stations of Saudi Arabia's most important oil pipeline. Days later, another attack hit a Saudi military air base, damaging an Italian fighter jet inside a hangar.
Crucial to the strikes' success was what was happening in the skies overhead: For days beforehand, a constellation of Russian spy satellites converged over the pipeline and the air base to gather intelligence.
Anyone even slightly versed in orbital mechanics will easily recognize that claim as bullshit.
For one: The pumping stations on Saudi Arabia's pipelines, as well as its military air bases, are stationary targets.
There is zero need for current satellite pictures to identify their coordinates. Any map of the local areas will be sufficient. Whoever wants pictures of them can easily get them on Google Earth. Additionally, there are about ten commercial satellite services which will, against a fee, deliver more detailed photography.
For two: Satellites 'converging' over some place on Earth is not a thing.
Satellites in geostationary orbit are flying at a height of 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) above the Earth. They always point to the same point on Earth and are useful for weather observations and telecommunication services. But their distance is too large to make them useful for espionage.
The usual spy satellites are flying lower and are faster than the Earth's rotation. They circulate the Earth in predictable timing patterns. Diverging from their once achieved orbit, which would cost all the little fuel they have on board, is an end-of-life one-time measure.
There are of course Russian satellites which regularly pass over the Middle East. As do Chinese, European, Indian, Iranian and U.S. satellites. But none of those will ever 'converge' over anything.
Why the AP editors gave this nonsense a pass is way beyond me. But a view on the sources might give some hint:
A private geospatial intelligence firm said it examined 40 missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and militias in Iraq between July 1 and Oct. 19. In every case, the firm found the same pattern of Russian government and military satellites orbiting above the areas for days before and after.
"What we found is a 100% match" between the satellite activities and strikes, said Nawaf Obaid, founder of Geneva-based AURORAH Geosignal Intelligence.
The website for "AURORAH Geosignal Intelligence" is aurorahgeosignal.com which contains some blubber based on open sources but no genuine information. Its domain, aurorahgeosignal.com, was created last month. A Twitter account under that name was also only created recently.
The 'founder' of the empty shell company, Nawaf Obaid, has made a career of spreading Saudi propaganda:
From 2004 to 2007, he served as Special Advisor for Strategic Communications to Prince Turki Al Faisal during Prince Turki's tenure as Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and later to the United States. From 2007 to 2011, he worked as a Special Advisor within the Presidency of Citizens Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court, where he was seconded as Special Advisor to the Saudi Minister of Media from 2010 to 2011. He later served as Counselor to Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom, from 2011 to 2016.
It is no wonder than that the AP reporters involved 'confirm' Nawaf Obaid's claims by citing official Saudi sources:
Three officials, including one from Saudi Arabia and another in the top ranks of the Houthis, as well as a private intelligence analyst, told The Associated Press that the Houthis and other Iranian allies have benefited from Russian intelligence, as well as Chinese capabilities. Iranian advisers in the field analyzed and transferred the intelligence to their allies, according to AP reporting.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry's deputy minister for public diplomacy, Rayed Krimly, told reporters last week that Iran and the Houthis receive intelligence from "elements in Russia and China, even commercial elements sometimes."
Do Iran and their friends in Yemen use Russian or Chinese derived intelligence ? One hopes so. But there is no evidence that they have been given any.
One wonders how much the AP's Middle East reporters were paid to publish such mess.
This article was originally published at Moon of Alabama.