The US is considering backing a ground offensive against the Houthis in Yemen, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The report said that plans to back anti-Houthi militias on the ground have been brought to the US by the UAE and that the US is open to the idea but hasn’t made a final decision yet.
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 and currently govern an area where 80% of Yemenis live. The US supported a Saudi/UAE-led coalition against the Houthis from 2015 to 2022 in a brutal war that killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis but failed to return former Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
In 2022, after reaching a ceasefire with the Houthis, the Saudis pushed Hadi aside and replaced him with a Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) that includes several different factions. The PLC’s leadership is based in Saudi Arabia, but it is considered Yemen’s “internationally recognized” government.
Factions allied with the PLC have fighters on the ground in southern and eastern Yemen, including the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a southern separatist group. Last year, an investigation from the BBC revealed that the UAE had recruited former al-Qaeda members who joined the STC, including Nasser al-Shiba, an STC commander who is a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole.
Previous reporting during the Saudi/UAE war against the Houthis revealed that the coalition had recruited al-Qaeda fighters to join its ranks. US weapons sold to Saudi Arabia and the UAE also ended up in the hands of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Before backing the coalition, the US actually briefly cooperated with the Houthis against AQAP and reportedly shared intelligence with the Zaydi Shia group.
The idea of the new potential ground offensive in Yemen would involve the UAE-backed factions launching an offensive against Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah. The Journal report said that Saudi officials have privately said they don’t want to be involved in the ground offensives over fears the Houthis could begin targeting oil fields deep inside Saudi Arabia.
Erik Sperling, the executive director of Just Foreign Policy, said in a post on X that if the Saudis really opposed the ground offensive, they would stop funding their Yemeni proxies.
“If Saudi truly opposes a new ground war, they can easily stop it by threatening to cut funds for proxy Yemeni ‘government,'” Sperling said. “But if they keep funding their Yemeni proxies as they launch a major ground escalation, Saudi oil and other infrastructure will likely be targeted again.”
The US has been pounding Yemen with airstrikes since March 15, but the bombing campaign has done nothing to deter the Houthis, who have vowed their attacks on Israel and blockade on Israeli shipping would only stop if there was a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.
A senior member of Ansar Allah’s political bureau has said the Houthis would stop attacks on US warships if the US stopped bombing Yemen. Trump administration officials have claimed they would stop the airstrikes if the Houthis declared they would stop targeting US ships, but there’s no sign the US is considering the offer since the bombing campaign is really about protecting Israel.
Where does isis control in yemen? It's in the legend but not on the map.
Could be anywhere in the Green region…!
No one can win a ground war in Yemen. Those people have nothing to lose and will eat their opponents alive.
The UAE is the number one culprit in destabilizing the Middle East.
Al Qaeda and similar extremist groups are easily infiltrated and are good in destroying but they don't know how to build or serve the community at large.
I'm surprised to hear the UAE indicted in such fashion. I'm not saying you are incorrect or uninformed (you consistently prove otherwise); more that I always kinda saw the "lymph node" countries of Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE (itself a larger territory than I always think it is) more as tiny, marginally relevant states in Lagrangian proximity to the KSA, IRI, Iraq "heavyweights" of the region. Present & involved, but in no major way.
So whose ends do you think the Emirates serve ? Do they lean "Sunni West" or "Persian Shia East" or do you pose that pitting the IRI, Yemen, and KSA against each other is useful enough for UAE longevity ?
That sounds like a real gigantic Hornets nest, the smart thing to do would be to stay as far away as possible.
But in the WH they are anything but smart.
This is a big one to address. However, the Arab tribes of the peninsula are all interconnected. They can be very petty. The British did a good job in dividing and conquering. KSA is the most influential. MBZ as he is known is very shrewd. He is secular in his outlook and money and power drive him (like most rulers). However, his destruction of Yemen, Libya, Sudan and the Palestinian issue is well known and documented. He is also known to have influence over MBS of KSA. He is VERY WELL connected to Euro-America-Israeli military, intelligence and economic interests. He hates "political Islam" and spends billions to thwart it. He runs a surveillance state. He is hostile to Iran because of "political Islam." However, he also believes democracy in the Middle East is destabilizing.
He is out for himself but his sphere of influence is rooted in the west and Israel. The biggest threat to his rule is from the West deciding that UAE should become an international city. Less than 1 out of 10 residents are UAE citizens. The country was built by foreign labor, etc.
Bottom line, he believes Palestinians deserve what they get, Israel and the west are models to follow but he can do better.
Hmmm, very interesting insights – thanks !
Of course. He is close to Kushner and UAE helped orchestrate the Abraham Accords which were a proximate cause of Oct. 7th
That sounds like a real gigantic Hornets nest, the smart thing to do would be to stay as far away as possible.
But in the WH they are anything but smart.
"The report said that plans to back anti-Houthi militias on the ground have been brought to the US by the UAE and that the US is open to the idea but hasn’t made a final decision yet."
It was the UAE , or more accurately it was MBZ, that tricked and dragged Saudi Arabia or in this case MBS to wage the war in Yemen. MBZ wanted to get Saudi Arabia stucked in disastrous war in Yemen.
The UAE has had its fingers all over what happened and happening in Libya, and the Sudan.
A new United Nations report alleges that the United Arab Emirates has established direct contact with armed Sudanese groups fighting in Libya’s proxy conflict on the side of Khalifa Haftar.
"The report by the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, released in January, says that for around a year the UAE has had “direct relations” with armed groups from Sudan’s Darfur region fighting in Libya on the side of Haftar’s Libyan National Army. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the UAE had, in violation of a U.N. arms embargo, increased its deliveries of weapons to Haftar, who ended his unsuccessful 14-month assault on the capital, Tripoli, last June."
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/04/libya-conflict-un-report-uae-haftar/
The UAE has grandiose designs in the region. It covets the whole of Yemen which it controls parts of it already .
UAE, Israel expand spy bases in Yemen’s Socotra under US-sponsorship: Report
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/26154
The plans for Gaza are not really that new. There have been rumors about UAE desires to take over Gaza long before October the 7Th.
All are puppets, in the same play…
It isn't really about protecting Israel either, since Yemen would not be targetting Israeli interests, thereby willing to be the only nation on this entire planet following the in international law enshrined sacred obligation to prevent genocide, if the Israeli actually would stop their genocide. So the US isn't considering the offer to stop the bombing precisely because the US is intent on continuing the Palestinian Holocaust and continue to facilitate the genocide wherever in with whatever they can. It is because the genocide is the policy.
There is nothing sane, let alone honorable like protecting the Israel deathmachine in any of this.
On a side note, it is remarkable to see how Al Qaida under whatever name it operates have been and remain to be so fantastically loyal and committed to Israeli and American interests. And of course to the corrupt, decrepit and surreally decadent Arab regimes they claim to stand against.
"Al Qaida…have been and remain…loyal and committed to Israeli and American interests. And [to] the corrupt…Arab regimes they claim to stand against."
"Loyal and committed" to US/Israel/Arab "interests"? Overstates nature of relationship imo – 'opportunistic' can see making a case for.
Your quote, taken as an accurate summation, is so insanely Orwellian that it makes one want to give up on the USA entirely as something worth saving.
"Your quote, taken as an accurate summation"
eh…to be clear…i quoted bakker, and – vs 'opportunistic – think "loyal" etc. is not an "accurate summation" of al q's relationship…
…to speak of 'partial overlapping interests' or 'partial tactical co-belligerency' is one thing…"loyal"? totally diff.
I mostly meant that your “…” inserts cut out unnecessary words in the quotation – and did not alter the meaning / intention of the quote or “cherry-pick” to create a deceptive one. That the author’s meaning is retained.
Hegseth said that recruitment is way up since Trump was elected. Well congratulation soldiers you will have the honor to die for Israel in Yemen or Iran.
When body bags come home don't wrap them in an American flag but an Israeli flag instead.
I think it's more that economically disadvantaged Americans recognize the military as the only steady paycheck in Trump's USA – every other industry (manufacture, retail, tourism, academics, finance) is poised to take a YUUUGE Ba'ath under Emperor Don's ham-fisted political revisionism.
You mean US government…?!
Government? What is that?
Ba'ath!… 🤣
Well, that fruitcake says anything, he thinks people will believe it because he says it.
For some reason, I expected better from Trump. I thought that Trump would have learned from his first term and picked people outside of the Israeli Lobby. Don the Con fooled many of us claiming he wanted to be the 'Peace Prez'. And his war against the rest of the world, good luck with that. I can see a time in the not too distant future when the U.S. and Israel will become pariahs and isolated.
Selling the West Bank to Israel was a very profitable transaction for Trump.
He claims Israel is going to give him Gaza, and he already rec'd a 200 million tip, excuse me campaign contribution. from Miriam Adleson.
Ain't Citizens United great!
I expected from Biden and regret the vote although in the red state winner take all, my vote did not count. Still out of principle I will never again vote for the lesser evil, there was nothing to vote for and I did not vote. Now Trump makes Biden look good, that shows how bad it is.
I know, just thought I mention it.
Not "way up". It's up less than 5000 from 2023 for the regular army.
https://recruiting.army.mil/pao/facts_figures/
Exactly. Perhaps that's another reason for Trump to destroy the economy as more young people will see the military as one of their only options.
The people here at home don't care, the KIA victims would be mercenaries, not draftees. That was the reasoning behind ending the draft. No GI Bill for mercenaries.
There is such a thing as a poverty draft. Stop it.
The backing won't include reconnaissance since there is no MQ-9 left in US arsenal…!
They don't care, they are like drunken sailors.
A call came from a deckhand
"Boys, I think she's going down
But don't you fear, there's enough rum here
To drink until we drown!"
Shave his belly with a rusty razor!
Shave his belly with a rusty razor!
Ear-lie in the morning!
Coming from the Trump madhouse it would not surprise. They are mad enough and pushing for WW III.
As has been said many times by Gerald Celente, "When all else fails, they take you to war".
They're gonna have a war to feed the factories.
They're gonna have a war to keep us on our knees!
-Mark Knopfler
And he uses an honest, salty language to enhance it.
Time to lose another war. You think Americans will tolerate their kids and spouses coming home in body bags to protect Israel's genocide in Gaza? I don't think so.
Nah, the ground troops will be ferners. };-)>
"the bombing campaign has done nothing to deter the Houthis" I doubt that. I'm sure they have destroyed missiles before they were fired and kill commanders. Now how much the bombing has deter the Houthis is a matter of debate, but certainly the bombing has had some impact.
If they are still attacking, it hasn't had enough impact. The impact can be increased greatly by mass bombardment with Napalm and Thermobarics. Once you have killed a few million, they will stop.
Once more. MORON.
hard rain gonna fall
soon on the bullies
we can hope
we will not surrender
Everywhere
one and all
stand up
to the bullies
hard rain
gonna fall
its gots too
Do NOT go in on the ground. That would just be an opportunity for the Houthis to take US hostages. Just bombard them with Napalm and Thermobarics.
Moron.
With a couple of exceptions, the Arab leaders in the Middle East are a bunch of cowards. They have no backbone when it comes to Israel and the U.S. In essence, they are proxies for the Israeli's and are enjoying their lavish lifestyle while fellow Arabs are being destroyed, and sorry, but nature doesn't like cowards, so you can forget your 72 virgins in the hereafter.