Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Saudis Bomb Houthi Targets in Yemen

The Saudis and some of their Arab allies intervened in the Yemeni crisis earlier today by bombing some of the Houthi rebel positions. The Shi'ite Houthi have been on a roll lately, taking the capital of Sana'a and driving the Sunni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his supporters to the port of Aden. The attack by the Saudi coalition appears to have helped pro-Hadi forces retake the airport at Aden. Now, the question is how will Shi'ite Iran retaliate.

Yemen has been a mess since before the British left back in the 1960s. For much of the Cold War, North and South Yemen were surrogates for the US and USSR. The unification of the two in 1990 created a single nation, but it did nothing to unite the various tribes and certain nothing to unify the Sunni and Shi'ite branches of Islam. The Houthi movement is Shi'ite and the Hadi government is Sunni, and so the old violence of division is perpetuated.

Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, told a news conference in Washington, "We will do whatever it takes in order to protect the legitimate government of Yemen from falling." The wire service also says, "Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV reported that the kingdom was contributing 100 warplanes to operation 'Storm of Resolve' and more than 85 were provided by the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan. Jordan and Sudan said their forces were involved in the operation. Egyptian air forces were participating, and four naval ships headed to secure the Gulf of Aden." It is further understood that Pakistan is considering a request for ground forces.

Saud al-Sarhan, director of research at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, said, "It is a clear message on the 'Saudi defense doctrine'. Security and stability in the Arabian Peninsula is a red line, and Saudi Arabia doesn't tolerate any attempt to destabilize the region."

Iran is definitely upset. Its Foreign Ministry demanded an immediate halt to the "aggression and air strikes." The Iranian news service Fars quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham as saying, "Military actions in Yemen ... will further complicate the situation. A senior Iranian official told Reuters, "Iran will use all possible political ways to allay tension in Yemen. Military intervention is not an option for Tehran."

Deploying Iranian troops in Yemen probably isn't in the cards, ever. However, there are a great many ways to intervene that are not necessarily military. Money, supplies and weapons for the Houthi doesn't count as military intervention, but it would ensure that the Saudi-led bombing runs had limited impact.

In addition, Iran need not strike back at Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Bahrain has a Sunni government and a large Shi'ite majority, and it is readily accessible from Iran, just across the Gulf. Anything from a special forces attack to funding anti-government groups would give the Saudis more trouble to deal with.

Reuters says, "The White House said it supported the operation and that President Barack Obama had authorized U.S. 'logistical and intelligence support.' U.S. forces were not involved in direct military action in Yemen, a National Security Council spokeswoman said. France and Britain also backed the operation but the European Union said military action was not a solution."

The fact of the matter is that non-Muslim nations have almost no control over events between the Shi'tes and the Sunnis right now, and any concrete action by the West would prove counter-productive. As happens frequently in the Middle East, there are no good options.

© Copyright 2015 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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