Wednesday, April 08, 2015

The Yemen Front

America and Iran may be on opposite sides in Yemen's civil war, but don't question whether they are our partner!

We are rushing arms and ammunition, as well as providing intelligence, to the Saudi-led force fighting in Yemen:

"Saudi Arabia is sending a strong message to the Huthis and their allies that they cannot overrun Yemen by force," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in the Saudi capital.

"In support of that effort we have expedited weapons deliveries," he said after talks with Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman and other Saudi officials.

"We've increased our intelligence sharing, and we've established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operations centre."

The Iranians are off shore, now, too:

The Alborz destroyer and Bushehr support vessel sailed from Bandar Abbas on a mission to protect Iranian shipping from piracy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in comments cited by Press TV.

Saudi Arabia and several Arab allies have imposed an air and naval blockade on Yemen as part of a two-week campaign to oust the Houthis, who have taken most of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh.

Not that those Iranian ships would last long if the Saudi-led coalition confronted them.

It will be interesting to see if Iran attempts to help their Houthi allies ashore. Ah! Our partner, Iran!

UPDATE: Strategypage has more.

UPDATE: Pakistan won't send troops (Egypt? You're next on the Rolodex):

Pakistan's parliament voted on Friday not to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, dashing Riyadh's hopes for powerful support from outside of the region in its fight to halt Iranian-allied Houthi rebels.

But we are helping more:

The United States is expanding its intelligence-sharing with Saudi Arabia to provide more information about potential targets in the kingdom's air campaign against Houthi militias in Yemen, U.S. officials told Reuters.

It's just a different model campaign, now.