UAE names Omani co-pilot in FlyDubai attack as Middle East tensions deepen

The latest developments from the Middle East on Saturday included the United Arab Emirates identifying the co-pilot suspected in this week’s FlyDubai attack as an Omani national. The UAE said he attacked the captain with the cockpit’s crash axe before trying to seize the controls.

A hospital in Gaza also said Israeli strikes killed five people, including two from the Palestinian territory’s Christian minority. In Saudi Arabia, a fire broke out at an oil facility in Riyadh, while Houthi rebels in Yemen reported airstrikes in Sanaa and Iran said it had executed a man convicted of firing at police during the unrest in January.

In Riyadh, dense black smoke was seen rising from an oil facility after a fire broke out there, according to an eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire at the Aramco oil refinery. The witness said security was tightened in the area and police blocked roads leading to the site. Saudi state-run Aramco and the government-run Centre for International Communication, which oversees foreign media in the kingdom, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Saudi oil facilities have recently been targeted in missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. The report said a major escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis has revived Yemen’s civil war.

In Yemen, Iran-backed Houthi rebels said airstrikes hit the capital, Sanaa, as fighting intensified between them and Saudi Arabia along with Yemen’s internationally recognised government. Residents said they heard three loud explosions. The Houthi media office accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out the strikes, but did not provide evidence.

In Iran, state-run IRNA reported that a man convicted of firing at police during the widespread unrest in January had been executed. The report identified him as Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi, a resident of Shahrekord in central Iran. It said he had confessed to possessing weapons and firing at police, and was convicted on charges including moharebeh, a Farsi term for “waging war against God”. The report did not say how the execution was carried out, though Iran usually conducts executions by hanging. Earlier this week, IRNA had reported that two other men were executed over violence during the January protests.

Overall, the developments included the UAE’s account of the FlyDubai attack, deaths reported in Gaza, the fire at the Saudi oil facility, reported airstrikes in Sanaa, and Iran’s latest execution linked to the January unrest.