Over the weekend, Yemen’s Shi’ite Houthis reported that they launched major drone attacks against
Saudi oil and gas fields, setting oil refineries ablaze and also
slowing some energy production on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Houthis confirmed being behind the attacks, as part of years of
Saudi war against them in northern Yemen, saying it was a “response” to
Saudi aggression. The Houthis still control much of northern Yemen
despite the long Saudi-led war against them.
The Houthis have been making some early steps toward drone warfare for awhile, and this seems to be a major step forward in that, both in capabilities and in the Saudis’ inability to stop them.
Despite Saudi Arabia spending the third most of any nation on the planet
on their military, they’ve so far proven ill-prepared to do anything
about Yemeni drones, and as these attacks step up, they will pose a growing danger to Saudi Arabia’s general infrastructure.
These attacks are raising questions as to Saudi air defenses, as the
nation seems to be able to intercept at least some missiles fired by the
Houthis, but have proven unable to prevent drone attacks.
Trying to start an Aramco IPO with this gigantic risk factor is going to cause a financial disaster for the KSA. Could be the start of the fall of the Saudi dynasty.
One can hope … the Saudis have done incredible damage spreading Wahabbism around the world.
Good riddance. Burn that fascist kingdom to the ground.
This so-called “attack” is a Lie. Just like Tonkin, just like the Kuwaiti Incubator Babies, just like Saddam’s WMDs, just like 9/11. And the Deep State’s boy Trump is just the one to pull it off. i wonder when we’ill get a drone attack in Houston. That’d REALLY pump up the price of oil, eh?
Where is Eric prince ?
Go, Team Houthi. Scorch Saudi Arabia.
Drones could do so much worse than this, and easily, but we lose sight of that because this outcome itself is so much worse than we foresaw. That of course is a defect in our foresight. War would make that much worse. Then we’d see what drones and cruise missiles could really do.
There is also a distinct possibility of cyber attacks on all that computer-controlled pumping and piping.
Yes … the best plans last only as long as first contact with the enemy.
Or, as Mike Tyson put it after the fight with Buster Douglas, “I got caught.”
The drones are coming home to roost.
The Houthis are quite capable of this level of attack (with some luck involved in terms of the amount of damage inflicted.)
As for air defenses, the stuff the Saudis buy from the US isn’t intended for defeating drones, but larger missiles and aircraft. The Patriot is useless against drones. The Saudis should have bought Russian Pantsirs, which are capable of defeating drones, as has been proven in Syria.
But then few people realized what is possible with cheap air frames, and modern cell phones with GPS and 1960’s-level mainframe computing ability.
What does Saudi Arabia expect when they have bombed the Houhii for several years