Saudis Consider Peace Deal Payout With Houthis

Shortly after a proposed “protection” arrangement between Saudi Arabia and their Houthi enemies was reported, a Riyadh-led coalition spokesman said Thursday the Yemeni terror group launched a ballistic missile targeting the kingdom’s western provinces.The Saudis had approached the Houthis to see if a war-ending deal could be reached, and were given a $51 billion price tag for what the group claimed were war losses, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Houthis also demanded the Saudis formally recognize the group’s claim to govern Yemen.The group already controls the capital city, Sana’a, and coastal territory where most of the country’s 43 million people live. They also threaten Red Sea shipping at the narrow Bab el Mandeb strait. Following reports of the Houthi demands, the Saudi-led coalition said air defenses destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at the Medina region. The target was apparently the western terminus of the East-West Crude Oil Pipeline, at the Saudi Yanbu province.The Saudi-led coalition “intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia,” its spokesman, Major General Turki al-Malki, said Thursday. The Houthis have attacked the pipeline in the past, disrupting the Kingdom’s oil exports in the only Hormuz Strait bypass.The Houthis denied targeting Medina, a Muslim holy site. The group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said instead that “only Saudi oil facilities and military bases” were targeted. “The Saudis believe they’re vulnerable, and so they’re looking to possibly pay protection,” the Executive Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Jonathan Schanzer, tells The New York Sun. Such payments, though, are “temporary,” he adds. “You pay that protection, the Houthis will bank it, and invest in more destruction.” Saudi Arabia is among the world’s biggest weapons buyers, but has proven to be a relatively weak military power. A Riyadh-led coalition launched the war in 2014 to defend the internationally recognized Yemeni government from a Houthi assault. The war has alternately simmered down and flared up ever since. America initially backed the Saudi campaign inYemen. But President Biden in 2020 campaigned to turn Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman into a world “pariah,” and as a result withdrew all support for the Saudi campaign. The end of American support also led to a fraying of the Gulf’s anti-Houthi coalition. Riyadh opposed a United Arab Emirates’ backing of a Yemeni faction that could have made progress in fighting the Houthis. The UAE eventually withdrew its support, but its confrontation with Riyadh damaged relations between the two Gulf allies. The Houthis, meanwhile, used the opportunity to advance territorial gains. The Houthis’ current war was launched on behalf of their Iranian benefactors. Tehran equips, trains, and advises its Houthi proxy, which has advanced weapons despite governing just part of one of the world’s most impoverished countries.The Saudis, meanwhile, aspire to lead the entire Muslim world, though their military weakness has been noted across the region. A daughter of the Jordanian king, Princess Salma bint Abdullah, is a pilot in the country’s armed forces. King Abdullah II himself was a combat pilot. Riyadh’s royal court, by contrast, is known for wealth rather than military credentials. “Saudi ruling elites do not serve on the battlefield. They serve in leadership positions, and this creates a gap,” Mr. Schanzer says. Riyadh signed a $142 billion defense deal with Washington last year but, as Mr. Schanzer notes, “the Saudis have not been trained properly.” President Trump last month denied a plea from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for American air support against the Houthis, which may have been a motivating factor in his effort to seek a deal.It’s not clear whether the prince would go as far as recognizing the Houthis as the rightful rulers of Yemen. Yet for a country with a gross domestic product that’s estimated at $1.39 trillion, a $51 billion payoff would be a relative drop in the oil bucket.

Saudis Consider Peace Deal Payout With Houthis

Saudis Consider Peace Deal Payout With Houthis

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