Will Riyadh’s new DC ambassador draw US deeper into Yemen war?
While the new Saudi ambassador to Washington, Khaled bin Salman, wants to convince the Trump administration to get more involved in the war in Yemen, history may deter the US administration.
Saudi Arabia is pressing the Trump administration to become more involved in supporting its war in Yemen. Bogged down in a quagmire of their own making, the Saudis want the United States to give them unqualified support. Fifty-five years ago, the Saudis pressed President John F. Kennedy to support them in another war in Yemen; Kennedy wisely deferred.
Riyadh has high expectations that the new US administration will provide significant support for their next major military operation in Yemen to seize Hodeidah, the largest port on the Red Sea, to tighten the blockade on the Houthi rebels and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The offensive will be the most complex operation of the war so far, as the rebels seem determined to fight to keep the port. The Saudis want American help to ensure their offensive does not end in a bloody repulse; they want more intelligence, munitions, naval support and diplomatic backing.
Former US President Barack Obama supported the Saudi war in Yemen, but with limits. Obama was skeptical of the Saudi claims that Iran was determining the rebels' policy or that the Houthis were the equivalent of Hezbollah. The Obama team pressed for a political solution, especially in the second year of the war.
In 1962, an Egyptian-backed coup toppled the Yemeni monarchy in Sanaa. Cairo sent tens of thousands of troops to support the republican government; the Soviets provided air power and hundreds of advisers. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser promised that the Yemeni coup would prompt a revolution in Saudi Arabia and an uprising in the British colony in south Yemen. A new Arab Republic of Arabia would emerge and unite with Egypt under Nasser's leadership.
