Plagued by division and defeat, it seems that the protagonists of the war on Yemen – the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have embarked on a new strategy: a major attack on Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah. This new strategy, if not thwarted, will push Yemen into total devastation. The problems…
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have followed the United States in funding a five-nation armed force designed to stop the march of Islamist extremists in Africa. But why is the Sahel, a semi-arid region just south of the Sahara Desert, causing alarm? Saudi Arabia pledged US$100 million December 13 towards a special anti-terror force…
Independence is once again attainable for South Yemen so long as prospective peace talks result in a coalition-enforced “buffer zone” with North Yemen and a “federal” transitional period that precedes an internationally recognized (re-)independence vote, and the restored country could avoid becoming a UAE satellite if it grants a third-party such as Pakistan a naval…
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have formed a new military and trade partnership separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The move came on the eve of the GCC summit in Kuwait, which opened on Dec.5. The top-level meeting was supposed to last for two days but was closed in a few hours to end…
Remember the name the Saudis gave their operation in Yemen when they launched it on 25 March 2015? Operation: Decisive Storm. By 21 April, the storm was officially declared over. The air strikes continued, of course, but the strikes on hospitals, schools and, in one notorious incident, a wedding party in Sanaa, were now part of an operation…
Emboldened by perceived White House support, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman appears to have stepped up his risky, so far faltering effort to counter Iranian influence in the Middle East. The kingdom, despite Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri complicating Saudi efforts to curb the political and military power of Hezbollah, the country’s Shia militia,…
