Heavy clashes have been reported throughout Tuesday along the ill-defined border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as the Yemeni Houthi fighters clash with the Saudi invasion force in that region.
Details on how the battle is going are scant, but locals reported an exchange of artillery fire back and forth across the border, and Saudi attack helicopters loomed overhead.
After announcing their war on the Houthis, Saudi Arabia reportedly has massed 150,000 ground troops along the Yemeni border, though they insist they haven’t conclusively decided whether or not to invade.
The Houthis have fought Saudi forces along the border in the past with comparative success, though never in such large numbers as are now being contemplated.
The Saudis say they intend to reinstall former ruler Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Yemen. Hadi resigned in January amid disputes with the Houthis over a new constitution with democratic reforms.
Is time for the saudis to wake up and smell some of their own cooked up medicine for Middle East.
I thought Saudi Arabia barely had any army because they were worried it would simply rise up against the monarchy at some point. Who are these 150,000 troops?
Saudi royals do have an army, but they also have a separate force to protect the royals from their own people.
They divide their land forces into two parts, to watch each other. Their heavier armed units are dependent on foreign experts, who can be sent away. So right, they don't trust them. This idea of massing an invasion force makes no sense given their internal constraints.
"The army has been chronically understrength, in the case of some units by an estimated 30 to 50 percent. These shortages have been aggravated by a relaxed policy that permitted considerable absenteeism and by a serious problem of retaining experienced technicians and noncommissioned officers (NCOs). The continued existence of a separate national guard also limited the pool of potential army recruits." Wiki on Saudi Army.
According to Global Firepower's site, all Saudi air, land, and sea forces together including that National Guard against internal unrest have an authorized strength of just 233,500. Much of that is said to be understrength.
So sure, they said those numbers, 150,000 troops massed. They don't have them. They lie.