Some five years into a failing war in northern Yemen, Saudi Arabia has announced the start of another military offensive there, saying that the latest offensive against the Houthis is coming because of recent cross-border attacks.
The Houthis had been engaged in preliminary peace talks, but when they didn’t make sufficient progress, the situation began to worsen. Early Saudi attacks saw the Houthis firing missiles and shelling targets in southern Saudi Arabia.
This has tended to be the way of things in this war, with unproductive talks leading to flare-ups in violence and ultimately to a return to relative calm before the peace process is given another chance down the road.
Mounting war exhaustion has everyone more interested in working everything out, but the Saudis’ interest in cutting Yemen’s access to aid at a time when coronavirus is a growing problem is likely to keep things tense for some time now.
May the Saudis fail miserably.