Saudis confirm joint strikes with US

Days of relative calm in the Middle East region were shattered when Saudi Arabia confirmed joint strikes with the United States against "Iran-aligned terrorist militias" in Iraq, citing "self-defense" after the kingdom's oil facilities were attacked.

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong statement on Wednesday, calling the "reprehensible" drone attacks "a reckless path of escalation in blatant violation of international law". It said the attacks happened at a time when the kingdom was "exerting every effort to help de-escalate tensions in the region in a manner that preserves its security and stability".

In a statement issued earlier on the same day, the official spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Turki Al-Maliki, said that Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed several drones that attempted to target petroleum facilities in the Eastern Province and Riyadh region.

On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called for an emergency meeting of the National Security Ministerial Council, the Iraqi News Agency, or INA, reported.

The report said, "The meeting was convened in response to developments in the security situation."

Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces also said on Wednesday that at least 20 of its members were killed in the US-Saudi attacks.

The PMF said it considered the attack "a highly dangerous escalation, a violation of Iraq's sovereignty, and an attack on its official security institutions". Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have repeatedly warned that the "resistance will continue" as long as US threats and actions against Iranian interests persist.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that US-Saudi bombing inside Iraq had been "coordinated with the authorities" in Baghdad, Fox News reported.

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, told China Daily that Riyadh is presenting the joint operation as a limited and proportionate response to repeated attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure, not as an attempt to open another front or enter into a prolonged conflict inside Iraq.

"When Saudi Arabia says it does not seek escalation, it is essentially signaling that the strike is intended to establish deterrence while preserving a diplomatic off-ramp," she said.

"The real test, however, will not be the wording of the statement but what follows: Whether the operation remains limited, whether Riyadh coordinates with Baghdad and whether all sides return to the Islamabad MoU and the broader diplomatic process," she added.

Netanyahu in Washington

The attacks came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday for closed-door talks that the administration described as "positive and productive".

The discussions lasted for about an hour and a half and took place as Netanyahu and Trump sought to patch over public disagreements over the conflict. Netanyahu said in a video message after the meeting that it was "one of the best conversations I've ever had with the president of the United States" and that it touched on "our common goal: ensuring that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons". Trump said that the pair had a "very good meeting".

Agencies and Cui Haipei in Dubai contributed to this story.