When the Houthis claimed responsibility for suicide drone attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities in September 2019 that paralyzed the country’s economy for several days, the US quickly rushed to blame Iran, while they have also accused Tehran of exacerbating the war in Yemen by supporting the Houthis’ fight against Riyadh.
The head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) told reporters on Sunday that Riyadh is still asking for US military assistance in deterring Iran. Washington backed out of supporting the Saudi-led war in Yemen earlier this year, but the Biden administration has committed to providing for Saudi Arabia’s defense, including increasing the efficiency of its air defenses in shooting down Houthi missiles.
“I believe our posture in the theater has prevented a state on state attack from Iran,” McKenzie said. It’s not clear how he determined that, since while the Saudis and Iranians have long been at odds over leadership of the Middle East, there have also reportedly been several attempts at burying the hatchet since the two nations cut formal relations in 2016.
As the US shifts its strategic focus toward “great power confrontation” with Russia and China, US commanders in regions that once enjoyed greater focus, such as the Middle East and Africa, are raising concerns about the future of their own missions if their manpower is lost to Asian or European bases.
However, McKenzie said that even if the US troop presence in Saudi Arabia is numerically smaller, “far more important is sort of the broad spectrum of capabilities that we give them.” He pointed specifically to the Saudi-led war in Yemen as something “we want to help them with,” noting that US and Saudi air defense systems have been linked.
Supporting Saudi War Once More?
“They’re under constant bombardment from Yemen, with a variety of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and small UAS (unmanned aerial systems) they’re very concerned about,” McKenzie said. “They’re proxies of Iran, so they’re under constant bombardment, so they feel that they are under attack, and they are under attack.”
The Saudis quickly mounted a multinational assault on the Houthis, bringing a number of Sunni nations, including Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates, into a coalition that has waged a devastating air war and funneled Western-made arms to anti-Houthi forces inside Yemen. The US also joined this fight, providing logistical services and dispatching Green Berets to destroy Houthi missile sites just across the border from Saudi Arabia.
As the catastrophic human cost of the war in Yemen became increasingly apparent, with much of the country under threat of starvation and the Saudi-led bombing campaign and blockade bearing a heavy responsibility for the destruction of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and schools, public opinion demanded the US end its support for the Saudi war in Yemen. However, while federal lawmakers attempted to take action as early as 2019, the Trump administration blocked their efforts and continued to support the Saudi monarchy.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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