Senior US officials have known ever since Saudi Arabia began a war of aggression against Yemen that Riyadh would fail in the military campaign, something that they have also “bluntly” told the Saudis, a report disclosed. RNA - The report, published by The American Conservative magazine, cited one “senior US military officer” as expressing “ire” at Saudi officials for making the decision to go to war with Yemen.
According to the report, the Saudis did not inform Washington of the decision in advance.
“We didn’t see the [Saudi] invasion [of Yemen] coming and we were shocked when it happened. But we were pretty blunt. We told them, ‘you can’t win and you’ll bankrupt your country. It’ll be a quagmire’. And we were right,” the official, whose name was withheld, stated.
The report cited another “military officer” as having said back in 2015 that while the Houthis were allied to Iran — which the US considers an adversary — the US counted on them as a potential counterweight to al-Qaeda in Yemen.
The war, in which the US also participates, has turned the Houthis entirely against America now, according to the officer.
US intelligence reports were also cited as having said that “Saudi Arabia’s intervention [in Yemen] was throwing into doubt the long-term stability of the Saudi government”.
The administration of US President Donald Trump, the report added, subsequently “reached two conclusions—that ‘all is not well in the House of Saud’, and that Washington should open talks with the Houthis to end the war”.
The report highlighted the major attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on September 14, which the US has claimed were carried out by Iran. Tehran has rejected that accusation, and Yemen has taken responsibility.
The retired US military officer referred to those attacks and noted that the Saudi decision to go to war with Yemen initiated all the tensions now simmering in the region.
This is “how all of this nonsense got started in the first place”, the officer said, referring to he initiation of the Saudi war.
A senior Pentagon official also highlighted how Iran now had the upper hand in the region.
“You know that popular map that you see on Twitter that shows that Iran is surrounded by US bases?” the Pentagon official asked, adding, “Well, guess what? The Iranians have now surrounded Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures. Weddings, funerals, schools and hospitals, as well as water and electricity plants, have been targeted, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands.
France, the United States, the Uinted Kingdom and some other Western countries have faced criticisms over arms sales to the Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose aggression against Yemen has affected 28 million people and caused what the United Nations calls “one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world". According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.
The total number of reported fatalities in Yemen has passed the 91,000 mark over the past four and a half years, the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) announced.
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