Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are escalating the war in Yemen. The Houthi leadrs and their allies show no sign of bending to the will of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud after more than four months of war. The grim struggle in Yemen goes on with a frightful toll for the Yemeni people.
The Saudis and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are pouring arms into Aden, Yemen’s second-largest city, and expanding their foothold there to the north. They seized a large Soviet-built air base north of Aden at Al-Anad. The air base is on the main road to Taiz, the next Saudi military objective. In Taiz, forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi claim to control much of the city, Yemen’s third-largest and the historic second capital of North Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni people are heading toward a humanitarian disaster as the war continues. Some aid is now moving into Aden, but the rest of the country is desperately short of water, food and medical supplies. The alliance have sabotaged efforts to arrange short cease-fires to allow temporary relief; 20 million people are at risk.
The strong words of defiance from Houthi and Saleh suggest they are not cowed by Saudi air power. Their forces retain control of most of what used to be North Yemen. The Saudis, Hadi and al-Qaeda have control of the ports of what used to be South Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Hadi have Aden; al-Qaeda has Al-Mukkala.
