Saudi-backed Yemeni government declares war against Houthis

[BEIRUT] The Saudi-backed government of Yemen on Sunday (Oct 4) announced a major military campaign against the Houthi militia, a key Iranian ally, plunging the Middle East deeper into war.

The new operation threatens to open a new front in the US-Israeli war with Iran and further entangle the US in the widening regional conflict that it began more than seven months ago.

In a televised speech, Rashad al-Alimi, the leader of the internationally recognised Yemeni government – which depends heavily on Saudi Arabia for financial and military support – said that his armed forces were seeking to reclaim the territory lost to the Houthis over the past 12 years.

In a statement hours later, Major-General Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for a Saudi military coalition in Yemen, said that Saudi Arabia had the right to defend itself from Houthi attacks and pledged “full operational support” to the Yemeni military to fight the militia until it is “eliminated”.

Asked about the campaign, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi political official, accused Saudi Arabia of waging war in Yemen to “impose its tutelage and interfere in sovereign decision-making”.

The announcement marks the second time that the Yemeni government has sought to fight the Houthis with Saudi support.

In 2015, a Saudi-led intervention devolved into a grinding war that contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people from violence, hunger and disease, and failed to defeat the Houthis.

Last time, the campaign hinged on US support and weaponry, and Saudi officials have sought US assistance this time, too.

The US is providing intelligence, planning and targeting assistance to Saudi Arabia to help its Yemeni allies, according to one current and one former US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

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Saudi Arabia has sent military advisers into Yemen to coordinate a ground offensive by the government’s armed forces, they said.

More than 200 US intelligence and military analysts are aiding the Saudi government in command centres inside the kingdom, helping to analyse and select targets, the officials said.

The US is also providing aerial refuelling for Saudi warplanes conducting defensive air patrols, they added.

The new fighting has compounded the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

More than 800 people have been killed since early August, according to the World Health Organization, while the World Food Program says more than 150,000 people have been displaced. NYTIMES