Yemen is just part of Iran's Mideast master plan - Smadar Perry - http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4641659,00.html
Analysis: Israel has spent five years warning that Iran seeks Shiite domination of the Muslim world, and the Gulf States know by now not to rely on the Obama administration.
Operation Storm of Resolve, designed to rescue Yemen President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's regime from the clutches of the Houthi rebels, began with an exercise in misdirection. At midnight between Wednesday and Thursday, the first squadron of Saudi Arabian fighter planes launched attacks on targets in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a - air force bases, arms depots belonging to the rebels, the palace of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and a reserve forces base in the south of the city that was taken by the rebels last month.
The strike caught the rebels by surprise. At a meeting earlier on Wednesday night between Houthi rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi and ousted president Salah, the two had coordinated an assault on Aden, Yemen's second-largest city.
"If Aden falls," the ousted president promised, "Yemen will fall, and the forces will be able to turn their attention to the greater task at hand - taking control of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait for the purpose of overseeing marine traffic into the Red Sea."
With the Arab response slow in coming, despite threats voiced by senior advisers to the Saudi king, the rebel commanders in Yemen were sure they had at least 24 hours in which to mount operations in the field before the Arab foreign ministers met in Sharm el-Sheikh for an emergency summit. They knew that the battle for power in Yemen would top the agenda, but believed that they'd have until the end of the summit on Friday afternoon before a green light was given to amass an Arab force to take action in Yemen. The also failed to foresee a powerful military strike and believed that time was on their side.
"We decided to take action against the rebels in Yemen without getting the approval of the Arab League," the spokesman for the Saudi Royal Palace said on Thursday morning, following a night of air strikes on Sana'a and the retaking of the airport in Aden.
It's been revealed, meanwhile, that in behind-the-scenes discussions, four Arab states agreed to join the air strikes under the command of the Saudi defense minister, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
During a tour Wednesday of the Saudi-Yemen border, Salman issued a stern warning to the rebels. "We are committed to the security of the Yemeni people," he declared. "If you continue to undermine the stability and threaten Saudi Arabia, you will get hit hard."
A spokesman for the Houthi rebels responded in kind, commenting: "We have already proved to you in 2009 how easy it is to invade the territory of the kingdom. Your army is weak. Today we are more skilled. When we decide to invade, we won't stop in the city of Mecca, but will continue on to Riyadh to topple the government institutions."
President Hadi, meanwhile, has gone underground. "He is in a secure location and is monitoring the military operation," his spokeswoman declared. And a status on the president's Facebook page reads: "We are currently taking measures to restore internal stability to our country. We will fly the flag of Yemen and not the Iranian flag over our homeland."
Washington isn't helping
The situation in Yemen took a turn for the worse some two months ago, when the Houthis, a Shiite opposition group founded in 1992 by Iran, managed to seize control of the capital, Sana'a. President Hadi and his prime minister, Khaled Bahah, were forced to announce their resignations. The Yemeni parliament rejected the resignations in an effort to preserve the government institutions, but Hadi insisted, and the government and parliament were dissolved.
With the Houthis not satisfied with the president's resignation and threatening to assassinate him, Hadi got the message and went into hiding. "If you force me to stay in my position, he told the commanders of the Yemeni military, "the terrorists will get to me and eliminate me."
The Houthis then took control of the presidential palace in Sana'a, and their commander, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, declared: "We are staying here to conduct the fight against al-Qaeda in Yemen."
Al-Houthi deliberately failed to make mention of the president-in-hiding and the collapse of the institutions of power: For him, the excuse was and remains the Sunni terrorist organization, which has set up an affiliate group in Yemen. On his way to shake the regime in Saudi Arabia, he has to block the terrorists.
While making efforts to enlist the help of his neighbors in the Gulf, Hadi has also appealed to the UN Security Council in New York, asking that it declare Yemen a no-fly zone and thus put an end to Iran's supply by air of weapons, military equipment and thousands of instructors and fighters to the rebel forces.
The UN secretary-general is "checking" and "considering," and is definitely "concerned" - but he has yet to call a special session to discuss the grave ramifications of the situation in Yemen. And the United States, too, hasn't helped much at all. After Washington "forgot" to add Iran's name to the annual list of countries that sponsor terrorism, it is in no hurry to send force to Yemen. "We won't participate in the operation, but we will provide assistance," the White House announced on Thursday.
The Gulf States know by now not to rely on the Obama administration: Washington is engrossed up to its neck in fine tuning the nuclear deal with Iran; and as far as the US administration is concerned, Yemen can go ahead and sink deeper into a bloody conflict. Last week, after the attacks at the mosques in Sana'a that killed 137 people, the United States withdrew its 125 advisers who had been living in Yemen for years as "training instructors," but were actually involved in gathering intelligence on irregular movements in the Gulf.
President Hadi, the Pentagon's protégé, got the message. He internalized the fact that if Yemen doesn't enlist the help of its neighbors in the Gulf, Iran will continue to make progress towards its ultimate goal - regime change in Saudi Arabia.
A Red Sea nightmare
From the perspective of the West, Yemen has always been a remote and uninteresting country. It is the poorest country in the Arab world, with a primitive economy, massive unemployment and a very high level (60 percent) of illiteracy. Of the 27 million citizens, two-thirds are Sunni Muslims and one-third are Shiite.
"The ayatollahs of Iran seek to take control of the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb so they can determine who can cross the Red Sea to the Suez Canal," says Dr. Yasser bin Hilal, a political science lecturer at the University of Sana'a, who traveled to Washington in an attempt to shake up the administration and the intelligence agencies.
"If they are successful, it will also affect the movement of ships sailing with goods from the Far East to the port of Ashdod in Israel. Try to picture the nightmare scenario - fighters in the uniforms of the Revolutionary Guards directing maritime traffic, boarding cargo ships, checking the cargoes and crew, and blocking passage to anything that doesn't serve their interests."
For its part, Saudi Arabia is issuing statements that could have been written in Jerusalem. "Iran is an aggressive state that is intervening and operating forces in the Arab world," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said this week at a joint press conference with his British counterpart, Philip Hammond. "Its nuclear weapons are a threat to the Gulf and the entire world."
He then went on to convey a message to the Obama administration, saying: "Striking a deal that Iran doesn't deserve is not right. Think, too, about the dangerous ramifications of the Iranians' 'second plan.'"
This "second plan", about which Israeli intelligence officials have been warning for the past five years, involves Iran's desire for Shiite control over the Arab world, with the ultimate objective being control over the Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia.
"We're dealing with two parallel courses of action," says influential Saudi media pundit Jamal Khashoggi. "If they halt the nuclear program by means of military force or a diplomatic move, as the Americans a currently trying to do, the Iranians will still be left with the threatening alternative of 'creeping progress' on the ground, throughout the Arab world.
"They are goal-oriented. They have a map of objectives to achieve on the road to Saudi Arabia."
Yemen - Saudi Boots on the Ground? - Dr. Steve Elwart - www.khouse.org
War in Yemen
Last Wednesday, Saudi Arabia initiated military operations against Yemen with a series of airstrikes that started about 2 AM local time. They have named the operation, "Operation Decisive Storm". Over 10 countries have said they are participating in the intervention, including five of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco, and Sudan.
The airstrikes are a response to the southern expansion of Yemen's Houthi movement, a Shia revivalist group with ties to Iran. The Houthis are closing in on Aden, which controls the entrance to the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab strait, through which about 20,000 ships pass annually.
Yemen's History
Yemen has not always been a failed state. The queen of Sheba (1 Kgs. 10:1-13; 2 Chr. 9:1-12), a Yemeni ruler according to some Arab legends, brought 4.5 tons of gold as a gift for Solomon. The ancient incense road carrying frankincense and myrrh through Yemen's center attracted much wealth, as did the later coffee monopoly, trading out of the port of Mocha on the Red Sea. Rome's destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 brought Jewish emigrants to South Arabia, as well as the Christian message. By the year 350 Christian communities were established.
Dhu Nuwas (515-25), a Himyarite king, changed the state religion to Judaism and began to massacre Christians. Kaleb, the Christian king of Aksum (Abyssinia), with the encouragement of the Byzantine emperor Justin I (518-27), invaded and annexed a portion of North Yemen. The Aksumite general, besides repairing the great dam at Ma?rib, constructed an impressive cathedral called al-Qulays at Sana?a to divert any pilgrimage from the Kaaba, which was then a pagan shrine.
The Persians invaded in 570 and ruled Yemen until 630, when the country submitted to Islam, beginning with the conversion of the governor in 628. Descendants of the Prophet established the Zaidi imamate, which survived, with interruptions, up to the 1962 revolution. The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) was then established in the north.
In 1839 the British occupied Aden, ruling over the south of Yemen until their withdrawal in 1967, in the face of armed revolt. The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, a socialist state, was established the same year. The decline of Communism caused the two Yemens to unite in 1990. A civil war in 1994 demonstrated that the ideological divide between the conservative tribal north and the more secular south was not completely bridged, but jihadists, led by the Houthis, have been working overtime to move the entire country toward Islamization.
Players in the Conflict
Some view the conflict between the Houthis and the elected government as part of a regional power struggle between Shia-ruled Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, which shares a long border with Yemen.
In fact, it is much more complex than that. The Houthis are not just fighting alone. One of their very important allies is the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. He and his forces control a very large portion of the military forces in the country and many of them are Sunnis. At the same time, Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is working with various tribesmen who are tied in with al Qaeda. So there is actually a situation where the former president is only one step away from working with al Qaeda. So there really are a number of different forces fighting right now in a series of complex alliances.
The Iranian Connection
Gulf Arab states have accused Iran of backing the Houthis financially and militarily, though Iran has denied this, and they are themselves backers of President Hadi.
This is in keeping with reports circulated last year suggesting that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), led by Saudi Arabia, wanted to form an "Arab NATO" by establishing an expanded military alliance. With the United States retreating from its overseas obligations and Iran and its allies filling the power vacuum, there is no shortage of reasons for the Arab states to want to build out their military capabilities through an alliance.
The GCC is alarmed by the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program and the larger strategic situation in the region. They are concerned that its regional security blanket, the United States, may not be as dependable as before. Saudi Arabia, therefore, is hedging its bets and is trying to build its own military alliance.
As unlikely as the union of these countries, with all their internal rivalries, seem to be, last week's operations seem to point that they are well on their way to becoming a power in the region.
The United States also seems content with the GCC going it alone.
The fall of the Yemeni government is a massive blow to U.S. counterterrorism strategy. Violence has forced U.S. special operators out of the country, severely hampering the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Military analyst, Seán D. Naylor, has said, "Officials familiar with the special operations mission said years of training and hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment that U.S. forces had given to Yemeni troops now will all but certainly be lost."
A New Paradigm
In the Middle East, the situation in the region is unprecedented. For the first time since World War II virtually every country from Libya to Afghanistan, with the exception of Oman, is involved in a military conflict. The degree of chaos, uncertainty, and complexity among the various and often contradictory alliances is mind-boggling.
America and its allies are fighting alongside Iran to combat the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, but in Yemen, the United States and many of those same regional partners are collaborating to push back Iranian-backed Houthi forces. Israel and Saudi Arabia are closely aligned in their concerns about Iran while historical divisions between the two remain great. Iran supports Bashar al-Assad in Syria; the United States and Western allies deplore his policies but tolerate his presence while some of the rebel forces we are supporting in the fight against the Islamic State in that country seek his (long overdue) removal. The United States wants the states of the region to stand up for their own interests - just not in Libya or when they don't get America's blessing first.
The United States is not participating in the operations directly in the Yemen fight, but is lending logistical and intelligence support. According to Saudi reports, the Kingdom has mobilized 100 fighter jets and 150,000 soldiers for the intervention, though there have been no reports of Saudi ground forces in Yemen as of this writing.
The Houthis seized Sana'a in January and have marched south toward Aden over the course of this week. Embattled President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled to Aden last month, has moved from the presidential compound in the city to an undisclosed location, possibly at sea. Members of his government welcomed the intervention, which they have been calling for since this past weekend. A Houthi official said last Thursday, "There is an aggression underway on Yemen and we will confront it valiantly," and that the intervention "will drag the region to a wide war." Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Iran would "make all efforts to control crisis in Yemen" and a spokesperson told press, "This invasion will bear no result but expansion of terrorism and extremism throughout the whole region."
Initial strikes have targeted air bases near Sana'a and Aden. Saudi Arabia said last night that they have already destroyed most of the Houthis' air defenses, and today, forces loyal to Hadi recaptured the Aden airport. The Yemen Times has reported civilian casualties from strikes in Sana'a.
Saudi Arabia's taking the lead in military operations in Yemen, is being viewed with great interest by prophecy watchers.
Ancient Cush encompassed the region south of Egypt and immediately east of the Red Sea and included modern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
How this latest conflict plays into end time prophecy is yet to be seen.
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