US involvement

The Saudi move has been strongly backed by the US, Riyadhs principal ally,
which is providing logistical and intelligence support. It is inconceivable that
the Saudis stated plan to launch a ground offensive into Yemen employing
150,000 troops would be under contemplation without prior American
agreement and support.
As yet, American forces do not appear to be directly involved. But the fact that
the Saudis have given the name Storm of Resolve to their air operation in
Yemen recalls another big joint operation involving US and Saudi ground
forces, Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 war to drive Saddam Husseins Iraqi
forces out of Kuwait.
The Saudi decision to unveil the international coalition in Washington
suggests that the Obama administration, rather than the normally risk-averse
regime in Riyadh, may be the driving force behind the intervention.
The US also sees this fight as part of a much bigger, strategic struggle with
Iran. But little in the Middle East is straightforward. In another regional
theatre of war, the Americans find themselves fighting on the same side as the
Iranians, using their air power to support Iranian-backed Shia militia
attacking Islamic State forces in the Iraqi city of Tikrit.
Incongruous, too, is the prospect of John Kerry, the US secretary of state,
meeting his Iranian counterpart this week in Lausanne to try to seal a nuclear
deal with Tehran at the same time as the two countries take drastically
opposite sides over Yemen. By dramatising the confrontation with Iran, the
Saudis may be sending a not so oblique message to Washington that the
nuclear deal, which they oppose, is dangerous and that Tehran is not to be
trusted.
If so, they will have Israels wholehearted backing. Other western and global
powers may be drawn in as the crisis unfolds. The Saudi-led intervention has
had an immediate, negative impact on world markets, and drove up the
overnight oil price by 6%. Import-dependent China was quick to express its
concern, though oil-producing Russia (and Iran) will be pleased to see energy
prices rising.
Diplomats suggest that Britain, the former colonial power in Yemen and a
close Saudi ally, may also be asked for help, if it has not already been

approached. We support the Saudi Arabian military intervention in Yemen

following President Hadis request for support by all means and measures to
deter Houthi aggression, the Foreign Office said. But it said a political
solution must ultimately be sought.

Arab joint action

The newly announced coalition is a notable next stage in the already
established trend towards Arab countries cooperating in their own defence. In
diplomatic terms it also looks like an attempt to send a powerful collective
message to Iran to keep out of Arab world affairs.
The joint action will receive official blessing at an Arab League summit in
Cairo this week. The coalition includes five of the Gulf Cooperation Council
members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain but not
Oman, which declined to take part.
Also on board, according to the Saudis, are Pakistan, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt
and, most surprising of all, Sudan. Turkey said it supported the action. It
seems clear that Riyadh has been calling in debts, asking for the support of
countries it has helped financially and diplomatically in the past.
They include the new regime in Cairo which overthrew the Muslim
Brotherhood government, loathed in Riyadh, and Pakistan, to which the
Saudis have made big loans over the years. Since the Arab spring sent
shockwaves through the regions unelected regimes, and following the rise of
extremist groups such as al-Qaida and Isis, Arab leaders have been
increasingly inclined towards joint military action to protect their interests.
There have been joint interventions, using air power, in Libya, Iraq and Syria,
and Saudi forces intervened in Bahrain in 2011 to support the Sunni monarchy
against its rebellious Shia subjects.
The reported involvement of Sudan marks a new departure. The government
of Omar al-Bashir is under sanctions from Washington, and Bashir is wanted
for genocide and war crimes. But Khartoum recently broke with Iran and
threw in its lot with the Saudis, in return for diplomatic cover and help with its
possible international rehabilitation. Now the Saudis are demanding payback.