Will Yemen Become Saudi
Arabia's Vietnam?
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
April 05, 2015 "ICH"
- "Sputnik"
- Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya an award-winning
author and geopolitical analyst, who is also
a member of the Scientific Committee of Geopolitica,
spoke to Sputnik about the Saudi led
coalition in Yemen.
Nazemroaya said that all
military experts around the world including
American ones and the ones in the Middle
East agreed that airstrikes are never enough
to defeat any force.
He also mentioned Libya
saying that in that country airstrikes were
not enough either. “You need operations
on the ground”.
“The
Saudis would be very foolish to embark
on the ground operations. It will be their
Vietnam in the Middle East, in the Arabian
Peninsula. I can categorically tell you that
airstrikes are not enough to stop any
military action on the ground.”
He said that in fact
Houthis have basically taken over Aden
in the south and because of that he feels
that Saudis are going to try and expand the
war and bring in troops from Pakistan or
mercenaries from other parts of the world.
“They might come under the flag of Saudi
Arabia but they could be mercenaries and
recruits from other parts of the world.”
He further elaborated,
“They are pushing for the Egyptians to get
involved. So alongside Saudi Arabia we have
some countries that are nominally involved,
their involvement is a token to make this
look like a Pan-Arab operation, like it has
a wider international support.”
He spoke about how Saudi
Arabia will push to expand the coalition
to get troops from other places. It is
unknown whether there will be private
security contractors or their own, but the
coalition will likely expand.
He also said that he is
quite certain that Saudi Arabia will push
the Egyptians to get troops into Yemen,
which according to him, would be a disaster
because Egypt in the past did send troops
to Yemen decades ago and it proved to be a
disaster.
“It
is going to be a disaster for Saudi Arabia.
Back in 2009 and 2010 they invaded Yemen
to fight Houthi and they lost. Houthi
started taking over parts of Saudi Arabia.”
Southern Saudi villages were
actually taken over by the Houthi. So if
they want to repeat a failed policy they are
going to send troops on the ground
into Yemen.”“Any
Arab county that gets involved in Yemen is
going to create domestic instability,
regional instability and ultimately it will
hurt Saudi Arabia. It does not have the
military capabilities to invade and occupy
Yemen. Hence, they will push to broaden the
war and get other actors involved. There are
already others involved.”
Talking about other
members he said that the US is already a
member, there have been reports that
Israelis have been helping them in the
bombings.
“In fact in the past Saudi
Arabia and Israel had an alliance where the
Israelis were providing arms to the Saudis
to provide to the Royalists in the northern
Yemen during the Cold War, to create
pressure on southern Yemen which at that
time was allied to Moscow during the Cold
War. So I mean there are broader interests
involved,” Nazemroaya said.
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