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| Arabia |
| With Yemen strikes, Saudi stakes claim as regional powerhouse |
| 2015-03-28 |
| [DAWN] The Saudi-led intervention in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... is aimed at marking the kingdom's territory in the face of Iran's rising regional influence, analysts say, but Tehran could strike back elsewhere. One week of airstrikes doth not a hegemony make. Backed by a coalition of Arab allies, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... launched air strikes this week against Shia Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to Americaâ„¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... rebels who had been advancing on President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's stronghold of Aden in southern Yemen. Hadi fled to Aden last month after escaping house arrest in the rebel-held capital Sanaa, which the Houthis seized last year. Supported by the West and Sunni Gulf Arab monarchies, Hadi's government has accused Tehran of backing the rebels in a bid to extend its influence in Yemen. As the main powers on the opposite sides of Islam's Sunni-Shia divide, Saudi Arabia and Iran are vying for influence in countries across the region. But for the Saudis, the possibility of a Tehran-backed Shia minority seizing control of its southern neighbour was cause for enough concern to move beyond rhetoric and proxies, analysts say. The intervention was "a last-minute move to prevent Yemen from becoming an Iranian colony," said Antoine Basbous, head of the Gay Paree-based Observatory of Arab Countries. "The kingdom had no choice but to intervene," said London-based analyst Abdelwahab Badrkhan, adding that the intervention marked a "revival" of Saudi influence among Gulf Arab states, who have increasingly been charting their own path. Saudi fears of a pro-Iran Yemen are shared by its fellow Sunni Arab nations, in particular Egypt whose air force and navy are taking part in the operation. |
| Posted by:Fred |