... facing a humanitarian disaster.” Although Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declare efforts to
seek alignment
on Yemen, they have been largely fruitless so far. Given the on-the-ground situation, Russia is leaning toward the UAE and the Southern ... ... and Turkey, Russia deems it important to the balance of power in Syria.
Tatyana Shmeleva:
The Odds of Syria’s Return to the Arab League: Opportunities and Threats
Moreover, Moscow will work toward convincing Riyadh to facilitate Damascus’ return to ...
... repeatedly uttered threats against the KSA.
The heart of the matter seems to lie in fear of the Shiite expansion.
The Saudis have long been vocal about their
concern over the prospects of a Shiite crescent encompassing Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and Yemen could now become another ally of Iran, completing the encirclement of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi response to the Houthi rise was akin to panic, as they rushed to pressure the Arab League into deciding to set up a coalition and launch an air campaign despite the risk that this approach would merely repeat U.S. mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Along with the Houthi advance, Riyadh seems fearful of changes in U.S. policy, as ...
... used by Saudis before: during the civil war in 1994, Riyadh supported the separatist movement of the socialist south to weaken the north, which the royal court regarded as a permanent threat.
Reuters
It’s a different matter that the air raids on Yemen are not producing the desired effect, which is illustrated by the
speeches
at the Arab League Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. The willingness of a number of Arab countries to begin a ground operation in Yemen raises many questions as well. First, Arab solidarity with Saudi Arabia is too thin. One of the key countries of the Arabian Peninsula ...
