The 2019 Abqaiq-Khurais attacks

Just before the full moon on 14 September, at 3:31 am Saudi time, the oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in Saudi Arabia were rocked by the first explosions and thereafter large fires, later claimed to be the result of drone attacks launched by the Houthis in Yemen. This was a watershed event. The attacks were mysterious in many ways, as we will see, but blame was promptly placed on Iran by Washington. Such a rush to blame without citing evidence has raised alarms worldwide, reminiscent of the lead-up to the Iraq War in 2003. Oil prices jumped 15% the day after, the largest single jump in oil prices in 30 years, as the attack immediately cut 5% of the world’s oil production. No deaths were reported.

The Wikipedia article cites that the attack took place at 4:00 am, but closer examination shows that the emergency services at the facilities were called into action at 4:00, which would place the attacks slightly before:

“At 04:00 (01:00 GMT), the industrial security teams of Aramco started dealing with fires at two of its facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais as a result of… drones,”

There is a report that the first UAV hit at 3:31. Panic would have ensued. It would have taken the security teams at least a couple of minutes to assess the needed response. It is important to note this because a 4:00 am chart gives the first degree of Virgo on the horizon, whereas even five minutes before gives the last degree of Leo, placing Aquarius on the 7th house cusp (the attackers). Aquarius fits better with the attack, having been aerial, and a surprise attack at that. The infrastructure/facility would be indicated by the 4th house, ruled by Pluto in either chart, which rules underground resources (oil, in this case). That event chart is below (bigger):

The attack and fires were at a refinery (distillation plant), used primarily to ‘sweeten’ the oil before it is shipped, removing the sulfur dioxide, which is explosive and hazardous to ship in bulk tankers. The process and the fires are indicated by the Sun/Mars conjunction in Virgo (refinement) on the 2nd house cusp, which brings in a financial dimension to the event. The size of the attack is indicated by the square of the conjunction to Jupiter, which forms a t-square apex with the Moon/Neptune conjunction in the 7th house, further reinforcing the oil fires. Neptune rules oil.

One of the more interesting features of the chart in terms of our newer astrological members (planets) is shown by the Sedna in the 10th house, roughly squaring the Horizon, showing the end of an era for a leader. From a recent article:

“In general, Sedna represents a process, first of destruction, then of reassessment and then of reordering. The process demands determination and creative responses to evolving circumstances, to the point where there is sometimes the necessity for survival against the odds, and sometimes in the face of death. As a result, Sedna also reveals creative people, especially those who have faced the bottom – i.e., the depths of their despair – and then climbed their way back to success, using the ‘bottom experience’ as the springboard for their creativity.”

This attack has certainly highlighted such a change, as well as the people who have hit bottom (the Houthis), as well as a determined and creative people (also the Houthis), but as well precisely because this attack represents a reordering of the Middle East, and has done so for the following reasons:

  • The weakness of Saudi defenses has been laid bare. They have no effective air defenses for their oil facilities, obviously, which will not sit well with states considering the Aramco IPO listing. The price of that listing may drop considerably, too, since it is known the site cannot be adequately protected by the present means. Some estimates already put the price to have been slashed by as much as 85%.
  • The Saudis and Emiratis urgently need to sue for peace with the Houthis. The war in Yemen needs to draw to a close, or the attacks will continue and worsen.
  • The attack, along with recent ones by the Houthis, have ushered in a new era of warfare and have shown the weaknesses of American/NATO air defenses as well, which the Saudis use. The Houthi drones fly at low altitudes, which NATO systems do not detect, are cheap and easy to produce, have stealth because of their composition and have a wide blast radius for their size. It is now the weapon of choice for poorer nations.

Regarding the failure of the air defense systems of the Saudis, Mike Pompeo just paid a visit to Saudi Arabia in light of the attack where he stated that air defense systems often don’t pick things up, which is an outright fabrication. Russian systems defeat drone swarms in Syria on a regular basis (here and here). The Houthis have been successfully attacking Saudi targets with drones and missiles for months with only partial Saudi success in repelling attacks. Of those, the drone attacks appear to be more successful. Why they are more successful is outlined in the last bullet point, above. Missiles fly at higher altitudes, are visible to radars and are thus more open to interception.

The other reason the Saudis are not able to better intercept incoming aerial attacks is due to the dubious success rate of the Patriot missile defense systems, which is their primary system. That system is not designed to intercept drones. It is designed for detecting and intercepting ballistic missiles and does not ‘see’ close to the ground, where small drones fly. The Saudis also do not have electronic countermeasures – because the US systems do not incorporate them. The Houthis now have a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at their disposal, using technology from Iranian systems, and with help from Hezbollah technicians on the ground in Yemen. This brings us to who actually executed the attacks and why.

The Patriot radar systems are aimed toward the east, toward Iran, and they do not scan. That means that the western regions of Saudi Arabia are unprotected. There would have been radar reports showing the launch of Iranian missiles from inside Iran, used as evidence to launch some retaliatory attack, but no such evidence is forthcoming, probably because there is none. Further, the attacks came from the west, as evidenced from satellite photos.

And then, there was the clincher, from the Houthi commander himself:

“This operation is one of the largest operations carried out by our forces in the depth of Saudi Arabia, and came after an accurate intelligence operation and advance monitoring and cooperation of honorable and free men within the Kingdom.”

The italicized words are key to knowing who did this. Here is the question that many people are asking, then: Was this a false flag attack, meant to provoke a military response against Iran, or maybe against the Houthis? It is doubtful, given the evidence from photos, the evidence of Iranian-designed (note: not necessarily Iranian-produced) drones/missiles and the lack of evidence as to flight paths of missiles. False flag events rely on overwhelming evidence for effectiveness.

There is definitely obfuscation around this event, though, with the involvement of Neptune in the t-square described before. The attack could have easily been launched from within Saudi Arabia, and not from Yemen, giving a further element of surprise. What we are seeing here with all the evolving stories is an attempt at a cover-up, again involving Neptune, with a further attempt to control the narrative by the Saudis and the US, with that attempt being met with wide skepticism from other nations. For its part, Germany is urging the US to re-enter the JCPOA in a bid to reduce tensions in the region. Trump has since imposed further sanctions on Iran rather than going to war.

The involvement of secret actors against the state is definitely on the cards, though, with the Moon ruling the 12th house (secret enemies of the state) of the event chart and being conjunct Neptune, and that is alluded to in the statement by the Houthi commander about the ‘honorable and free men within the Kingdom’.

The attacks were precise. They required an intimate knowledge of the facilities, and also of the scheduling of those facilities. They were also launched from three different points (machine translate) and some of the drones were disguised (Neptune again). They were actually cruise missiles that resembled planes more than missiles. The spokesman for the Houthis also added that the pictures of the destruction were hiding the truth of the real damage to the facilities, which was more extensive than was reported.

It would appear that the attacks were more in the nature of a message than a devastating blow, as production has been somewhat restored and there were no reported deaths. And then there was the message that followed after from the Houthis, that unless the Emiratis also ceased their aggression their glass towers would be targeted. In all, this scenario would be consistent with a controlled, narrated roll-out of responses to aggression against the Houthis.  This is also consistent to what was described about the full moon figure in the recent Virgo letter, in that the t-square configuration can equally apply to military leaders as well as spiritual leaders.

Regarding narratives and messaging, the US and Saudis have tried to play down the effectiveness of the Houthis, with the attack being an embarrassment to them, seeking to portray the Houthis as being incapable of such an attack. That is an assessment that may come back to haunt the West and the Saudis. The Houthis have friends – friends with technical knowhow – as well as friends within the Saudi Kingdom, apparently. The primary beneficiaries of these attacks would be the Houthis if those serve to end the war. And in that we see the primary motivating factor for the event.

Lastly, to add more confusion and speculation to the events, there is the aspect of timing. The attacks came days before the Israeli election. They also came days before the 73rd meeting of the UN General Assembly, where Trump and Rouhani were slated to meet. The latter is off the table now with the latest sanctions against Iran and US accusations of Iranian involvement in the attacks. Netanyahu also hoped to gain political capital off the attacks but that fizzled, as he has essentially lost his re-election bid.

In all, then, although speculation is rife, there is no proof that Iran was in any way behind the attacks. But the event has shaken the world order, which would be consistent with Uranus ruling the 7th house of the chart, with confusion around who actually perpetrated them shown by Neptune in that house.

As always, there is, “Cui bono?” Who ultimately would have benefitted from the attack? It makes for an odd list – Russia, the US and Iran, primarily, and because it would push up oil prices. But in the final analysis, the Iranians would have been ill-advised against such an attack because of the reprisals it would bring, with damage if not destruction to its oil facilities. US fracking industries would definitely benefit from higher oil prices in the short term, as would Russia in the longer term.

And if we step back and look at this, it is the US who will benefit the most by the carry-on effect of this event. Immediately after, Trump released US oil reserves if needed, at the higher prices, which will serve the fracking industry. And then there are more troops on the way to the Saudis, along with sales of more American overpriced hardware of dubious performance. This is not to mention his PR value going up after this, appearing more ‘presidential’ with his handling of the situation and not rushing into war, as Lindsay Graham was advising.

Then, there are the parties who would suffer from such an attack – China, Japan, Europe and ultimately all the Gulf states if there were to be larger reprisals. And that would also include Israel if there were to be a wider war. Saudi Arabia would definitely suffer, because they would not be able to produce oil, probably for months at least. As is the case with any action like this, the answer to the question of who did it usually lies with whoever has the most to gain from it financially or strategically.

The target nation was Saudi Arabia. As mentioned at the start, this event has been one of the most important in recent memory. Why that would be is as follows, and then we will look at the chart for the Saudis:

  • The attack has revealed that the world’s energy supplies are vulnerable and at great risk to implosion at any moment if the war in Yemen continues.
  • The illusion of the dominance of the US as the protector of energy and nations has been broken. The response of the Trump administration has been lackluster at best, which should be the final straw with the Saudis, Emiratis and Israelis when it comes to depending upon America for their defenses. This has shown the more or less complete lack of care of the US for its allies, with domestic politics taking precedence over agreements.
  • The House of Saud is also vulnerable, and could come crashing down at the next such event. A Houthi assault on the House of Saud or Mecca, allied with Shia elements within the Kingdom is now not unthinkable. A single coordinated attack on the Saudi electrical infrastructure, for instance, would spell the end of the Kingdom, a revolt and the overthrow of the monarchy.

We will get to the whys and wherefores of the above after looking at the chart. Their chart with transits and directions is below (bigger):

From the chart we see that the t-square of the event chart had its base across the Saudi nodal axis, with the apex in the Saudi 9th house (foreign relations), showing the sudden change in their relationships. The Houthis are a foreign relation. Transiting Saturn was on the Saudi Ceres, showing a turning point, and in the 10th house, marking a fall in their esteem. There was a direction of Eris square the Saudi Sun, the latter ruling the 6th house of services and the military, showing a shakeup and a rude awakening as to their abilities. The Saudis themselves are notoriously lazy and weren’t even manning the radars around the facilities on the day of the attacks.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly we find a square of Mars directed to the Saudi Saturn, the latter ruling the 10th house – the sitting government – in this case, MbS. At the start the statement was made that this was a watershed event. If the Saudis do not quickly sue for peace, but instead continue their belligerence, the next attack will be more devastating. If their power plants are hit that means no power to run their desalination plants, no air conditioning, no power for their refineries, no running water. Those places are undefended at the moment.

Without the preceding the Saudis will be reduced to their previous backwater existence, with mass flight from the Kingdom, and a large-scale revolt in all probability. It is possible, looking at their directions. It would also mean that no oil would flow from there. No income. Without immediate attention to these things they are sitting ducks. The Houthis know this. Trump knows it, too. He has stated as much in the past.

This is an evolving situation that needs to be watched closely. If the Saudis fall it could very adversely affect the world economy. The world still runs on oil. Any disruption of the Gulf would strongly affect Europe, China and Japan most of all. Perhaps there is a warning there as well, and why the attacks against the Saudis have been quite measured thus far. With Trump in campaign mode now a war is off the books, unless maybe he is re-elected. But even then there is reason to doubt a war would come. The present story is already starting to fade from the news cycle.

The Saudis and the UAE are very likely now to begin looking east for their security. We can look for more sales to US Gulf allies of Russian S-400 systems, for instance, for Gulf states to strengthen ties with Russia, China and even Iran, and for further fracturing of the alliances in the region the West has enjoyed, along with its energy security, for the past seven decades. And the Saudis? They will be too inward looking and too insecure from now into the next years to be paying too much mind with anyone else. From what we can see here, an uneasy peace will soon settle over the region.

As a footnote here, there is another piece to the puzzle, that if true, has wide significance, and it comes from an obscure Russian site that describes how the Saudis produce their oil. It goes on to say that their oil wells are essentially past the point of no return, that what we are facing with the latest attack is a huge scam, one of which the Russians are aware, and the Americans have been promoting for years. It also gives insight into American oil production, which is quite similar, as well as Canadian oil production. Oil prices are artificially manipulated and the profits are massive. It pays to keep an open mind.

Featured pic from Mint Press News

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