West Asia News and Discussions (YEMEN, gulf)

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 10 Nov 2015 06:02

carrying at least 3,750 meters of wire.... (effective range)

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 10 Nov 2015 06:31

Singha wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mxPOx0vTbk#t=28

houthis taking out saudi (probably abandoned!) armour

Something really weird about this video. I tried viewing it backwards because of the Arabic text and it made some sense. That tank is hit twice. Initially the tank is definitely manned - it fires off a round from its cannon. Soon after it gets hit and there is an almighty explosion. Later in the clip there seems to be a vehicle parked near the same tank - which is probably derilict by then. A second explosion occurs which in facts wraps up the nearby vehicle in the blast.

Where were the refs to Bazookas and TOWs that people seem to be talking about?

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 10 Nov 2015 06:58

Shiv: I meant this one.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c9f_1446987725

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 10 Nov 2015 08:18

houthistan seems like the same moonscape as most of afghanistan.

habal · Post by **habal** » 10 Nov 2015 10:01

UlanBatori wrote:BTW, TSJ's description shows why that video was all pakistan. In it , the "Houthis" casually walk out into the open from behind the edge of a wall to take a look at the 3 trucks parked conveniently, THEN the guy with the bazooka comes around, and eventually fires it. One shot. AOA! All 3 trucks are smashed. I assume that real KSA trucks would come with at least an RPG launcher on board, so they can lob a grenade at ppl hiding behind walls. And a guy who walks out in the open when there is a machine gunner in front, is, well.. finis even in WW1.

aha .. you didn't notice preceeding minutes where the exit from their position was ambushed by houthis and one saudi officer jumbed from his pickup. The KSA trucks then come and give covering fire. After that single act of valour, the KSA park their trucks together and escaped on foot ? thus giving houthis clean sweep of three together.

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 10 Nov 2015 11:05

Probably GMC trucks needing torque converter replacement

Why do the bad guys buy quality trucks like Toyota Tachoma, rather than GMC Sierra

we love what you do to me Toyota was their jingle
Versus
like a rock Chevy jingle ( being true it doesn't move)

Ah I know my friends work at GM Tech center

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 10 Nov 2015 12:28

Spinster wrote:Just imagine if one spool of wire jams or lags should be interesting to see right leaning missile take on left leaning equipment,

In that case, is it possible to snip the wire? Would the missile act as a fire and forget?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 10 Nov 2015 12:39

during ODS apache helicopters had TOW not hellfires(not in service yet) and they faced this issue when multiple missiles were in the air they were intersecting like kite strings and the missiles went astray. these type of missiles seem to deliberately follow a wobbly spiralish path and tend to be hyper about control inputs.

the latest version of TOW uses a radio command link iirc.

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 10 Nov 2015 12:53

Place mentioned is Rabuah which is the outskirts of Jeddah. Makkah is 100 or so kms from here. A shift of holy place from Sunnis to Shia?

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 10 Nov 2015 15:51

Sir Zahid Hamid views on Yemen War

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 10 Nov 2015 16:16

sudan mercenary troops in aden. reports of UAE sending back its regular army with their vehicles and armour and these mercs from various north african muslim nations to take their place.

mercs from as far west as senegal and mauritania have been brought in
http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/opinion/s ... tion_36507

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 10 Nov 2015 17:15

^^ What a mess , this is Libya in the making if not already so

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 10 Nov 2015 22:57

Singha wrote:
sudan mercenary troops in aden. reports of UAE sending back its regular army with their vehicles and armour and these mercs from various north african muslim nations to take their place.

Last week read something to the tune of "UAE Strategy of changing troops in Yemen is a good strategic practice. Commended by International Military Experts." in Gulf News of Khaleej Times. Could not understand what was the hoo-haa about making this front page news. Can't find the article now, but in hindsight with Singhaji's comment it makes sense.

Other mentions that I have found on this are this and this. Other rumours I have heard from Dubai constructionwala's are that despite the upcoming Expo 2020, government is slowing down projects as they are channelizing money to defence emergencies. Anecdotal, but noteworthy.

habal · Post by **habal** » 11 Nov 2015 15:13

Gulf coalition of the Clowns (GCC) lead murderous army is collapsing all together in southern Yemen.

Yemini forces entered Qutabah without a single shot, & welcomed by the civilians.
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/bre ... ern-yemen/

Houthis and Yemeni army took the most important airbase in southern Yemen in just 2 days....Al Anad. While UAE has removed their soldiers from Yemen (pretending to say they will be back), KSA continues to have some idiots on the ground but away from the front lines, for the front they hired paid mercs from other countries, some brainwashed Yemenis or Arab soldiers for sale...900 Sudanese soldiers were supposed to defend Al Anad...did't work...hundreds of grad missiles hit the base in few hours, noone knows how many Sudanese died, Yeminis promised no merc would stay alive....hope the Sudanese soldiers know how to swim...

https://twitter.com/agitpapa/status/664324532342255616

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 11 Nov 2015 15:34

without a strong cause to fight for, the mercenaries will melt away
the emiratis and saudis seem to melt away before the kick-off
interestingly, maybe the mercenaries will even launch a palace coup!!?!?
[dreaming]germanic praetorian guards and turkic mameluks...[/dreaming]

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Nov 2015 16:55

Declaring that mercs will be bereft of Geneva convention is a nice touch. This lot will rape and loot anyway if they can.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 11 Nov 2015 17:01

one saudi officer jumbed from his pickup.

You mean daintily like Hema Malini, and then strolled away with duly swaying musharraf in full view of ppl with sniper rifles, totally unconcerned, making sure to be easily seen in the video. If the videocameraperson knew where to focus the lens, so did the RPG-person and the AK-47-person and the sniper-rifle person, hain? That's the other feature of that whole "battle". The sheer absence of any urgency. "Professional" they called it. I agree. Professional TV Commercial operation.

I have seen enough of Saudis in various modes of operation to know that they would be rushing in jerky motions, as long as it is away from any work/danger etc. Same with their Paki Mercenary pros. The casually phlegmatic, ClintEastwood/John Wayne saunter in the face of danger, is not a Saudi characteristic.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Nov 2015 17:02

Al anad seems to be only 60km north of aden.
What happened to the offensive on taiz and the huge emirati leclerc and ifv column that went beating their drums way north to marib? Must have slunk back when we were not watching and shipped back from aden?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Nov 2015 17:06

Houthi Saudi clashes follow a script.

Saudi tfta eqpt drives at high speed randomly and then stops in exposed place. Fires one shot.

Old houthi with a stick walks up and clangs side of vehicle .this is signal for Saudis to jump out and walk away under safe passage.

And hour later young houthi with YouTube camera and rpg drops in to trash the vehicle and do the death to amrike Israel song

Goto step 1

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 11 Nov 2015 17:07

Singha wrote:Al anad seems to be only 60km north of aden.
What happened to the offensive on taiz and the huge emirati leclerc and ifv column that went beating their drums way north to marib? Must have slunk back when we were not watching and shipped back from aden?

Come on, give them a break. It's been raining there due to the Cyclone with the yindoo naam. Probably taking shelter from the H2O missiles from the atmosphere. Besides, those tight Armani uniforms and off-white calf leather boots are not made to have mud splashed on them.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Nov 2015 17:09

But no such birader rules apply to mercs. Will likely be shot like dogs and one sent back to tell his mates to leave or face the same.

The Colombians will be real hardcases though albeit trained by CIA/green beret for jungle rather than desert war.

Rus might provide Sat intel to take them out with tochkas at opportune time.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 11 Nov 2015 18:44

A very good tactic indeed! The UAE troops have to get back to ahem....."engage" with their numerous wives and concubines as per tradition.Leaving them neglected for long may lead to unpleasant surprises when they return.Therefore,"rotating the troops" is a time-honoured tradition in wartime,to have "fresh" troops ready for battle at regular intervals. The UAE troops will also perform the time-honoured mil tradition of "beating the retreat" as taught to them by the Western instructors especially seen in recent times in the MEast. One saw on a video-clip a huge convoy of ISIS flight-ers in their Toyota SUVs speeding away from the battlefield escorted by a US Apache non-attack helo! UAE and Saudi troops are brilliant when it comes to beheading civilians,dismembering the limbs of defenceless women, and imposing brutality and barbarity par excellence upon their foreign workers. But on the real battlefield...?

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 11 Nov 2015 18:58

they are also quite adept at deep penetration musharraff attacks, but of course that is illegal under their legal system...

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Nov 2015 19:52

https://www.icrc.org/en/document/yemen- ... -must-stop

deliberate policy of attacking hospitals in yemen

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 12 Nov 2015 00:36

Philip wrote:UAE and Saudi troops are brilliant when it comes to beheading civilians,dismembering the limbs of defenceless women, and imposing brutality and barbarity par excellence upon their foreign workers. But on the real battlefield...?

Interesting point. Are there any examples of primarily Islamic (self-proclaimed) winning any large wars after Ataturks? They will be hammered in the months and years to come now that they fingered the strongman.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 12 Nov 2015 07:02

afghanistan? though the soviets extracted a large cost in lives vs their own losses.
1971 Egypt did score a good deal of success on the suez front. but they were arab nationalist + soviet advisers not a islamist formation then.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 12 Nov 2015 10:59

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... nster.html

Saudi Arabia risks destroying Opec and feeding the Isil monster

'Saudi Arabia is acting directly against the interests of half the cartel and is running Opec over a cliff,' says RBC

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
11 Nov 2015

The rumblings of revolt against Saudi Arabia and the Opec Gulf states are growing louder as half a trillion dollars goes up in smoke, and each month that goes by fails to bring about the long-awaited killer blow against the US shale industry.

"Saudi Arabia is acting directly against the interests of half the cartel and is running Opec over a cliff"

Algeria's former energy minister, Nordine Aït-Laoussine, says the time has come to consider suspending his country's Opec membership if the cartel is unwilling to defend oil prices and merely serves as the tool of a Saudi regime pursuing its own self-interest. "Why remain in an organisation that no longer serves any purpose?" he asked.

Saudi Arabia can, of course, do whatever it wants at the Opec summit in Vienna on December 4. As the cartel hegemon, it can continue to flood the global the market with crude oil and hold prices below $50.

It can ignore desperate pleas from Venezuela, Ecuador and Algeria, among others, for concerted cuts in output in order to soak the world glut of 2m barrels a day, and lift prices to around $75. But to do so is to violate the Opec charter safeguarding the welfare of all member states.

"Saudi Arabia is acting directly against the interests of half the cartel and is running Opec over a cliff. There could be a total blow-out in Vienna," said Helima Croft, a former oil analyst at the US Central Intelligence Agency and now at RBC Capital Markets.

The Saudis need Opec. It is the instrument through which they leverage their global power and influence, much as Germany attains world rank through the amplification effect of the EU.

The 29-year-old deputy crown prince now running Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, has to tread with care. He may have inherited the steel will and vaulting ambitions of his grandfather, the terrifying Ibn Saud, but he has ruffled many feathers and cannot lightly detonate a crisis within Opec just months after entangling his country in a calamitous war in Yemen. "It would fuel discontent in the Kingdom and play to the sense that they don't know what they are doing," she said.

"We are feeling the pain and we’re taking it like a God-driven crisis"
Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Oman's oil minister

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the oil price crash has cut Opec revenues from $1 trillion a year to $550bn, setting off a fiscal crisis that has already been going on long enough to mutate into a bigger geostrategic crisis.

Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Oman's (non-Opec) oil minister, said the Saudi bloc has blundered into a trap of their own making - a view shared by many within Saudi Arabia itself.

“If you have 1m barrels a day extra in the market, you just destroy the market. We are feeling the pain and we’re taking it like a God-driven crisis. Sorry, I don’t buy this, I think we’ve created it ourselves,” he said.

The Saudis tell us with a straight face that they are letting the market set prices, a claim that brings a wry smile to energy veterans. One might legitimately suspect that they will revert to cartel practices when they have smashed their rivals, if they succeed in doing so.

One might also suspect that part of their game is to check the advance of solar and wind power in a last-ditch effort to stop the renewable juggernaut and win another reprieve for the status quo. If so, they are too late. That error was made five or six years ago when they allowed oil prices to stay above $100 for too long. But Opec can throw sand in the wheels.

At root is a failure to grasp how quickly the ground has already shifted from under the feet of the petro-rentier regimes. Opec forecasts that oil demand will keep rising relentlessly, adding 21m barrels of oil per day (b/d) to 111m by 2040 as if nothing had changed. They have their heads in the sand.

The climate pledges made for the COP21 summit in Paris by the US, China and India - to name a few - imply a radical shift in the global energy landscape. Subsequent deals by 2025 may well bring a "two degree world" within sight.

The IEA says oil demand will be just 103m b/d in 2040 even under modest carbon curbs. It would collapse to 83.4m b/d if global leaders grasp the nettle. My own view is that it will happen by natural market forces.

The next leap foward in technology is going to be in energy storage. Teams of scientists at Harvard, MIT and the world's elite universities are in a race to slash the cost of batteries - big and small - and overcome the curse of intermittency for wind and solar.

A team in Cambridge says it has cracked the technology for lithium-air batteries that cut costs by four-fifths and enable car journeys of hundreds of miles on a single charge. By the time we reach 2040, it is a fair bet the only petrol cars still on the road will be relics, if they can find fuel at all.

"Everything will be electrified. The internal combustion engine is a dead-end. We all know that, and the car companies ought to know that," said one official handling the COP21 talks.

Opec might be better advised to target prices of $75 to $80 and maximize revenues while it still can, taking advantage of a last window to break reliance on energy and diversify their economies.

The current war of attrition against shale is a hard slog. US output has dropped by 500,000 b/d since April, but the fall in October slowed to 40,000 b/d. Total production of 9.1m b/d is roughly where it was a year ago when the price war began.

"The expectation that a swift tailing-off in tight oil would lead to a rapid rebalancing in the market has proved to be misplaced," said the IEA. Costs are plummeting as rig fees drop and drilling time is slashed.

There is a time-lag effect. Shale cannot keep switching to high-yielding wells forever. Their hedging contracts are running out. The US energy department expects a further erosion of 600,000 b/d next year, but this is not a collapse.

By then Opec will have foregone another half trillion dollars. "What is winning supposed to look like for the Saudis? Can they really endure another year of this?" said Ms Croft.

Opec can certainly bankrupt high-debt frackers but this does not shut down US shale in any meaningful way. The infrastructure and technology will remain. Stronger players will move in. Output will bounce back as soon as oil nears $60.

Shale frackers will respond with lightning speed to any rebound and create a permanent headwind for Opec over years to come, or a sort of "whack-a-mole" effect, contrary to warnings by the IEA this week that Mid-East producers may regain their 1970s stranglehold once rivals are cleared out.

What is clear is that the Opec squeeze has killed off $200bn of upstream oil investment, mostly in offshore projects, Canadian oil sands and Arctic ventures. That will cut oil output in the distant future, but it is a different story.

Saudi Arabia has certainly regained market share, but the cost is causing many in Riyadh to ask whether the brash new team in power has thought through the trade-off. While the Kingdom has deep pockets, they are not limitless. Kuwait, Qatar and Abu Dhabi all have foreign reserves that are three higher per capita.

It has been downgraded to A+ by Standard & Poor's and has a budget deficit of $100bn a year, forcing it to burn through reserves at a commensurate pace and now to tap the global bond market.

Austerity has finally arrived, a nasty shock that was not in the original plan. A confidential order from King Salman - marked "highly urgent" - has frozen new hiring by the state, stopped property contracts and purchases of cars, and halted a long list of projects. The Kingdom will have to slim down the edifice of subsidies and social patronage that keeps the lid on protest.

It is far from clear whether Saudi Arabia can continue to prop up allies in the region and bankroll Egypt, already struggling to defeat Isis forces in the Sinai. An Isis cell captured - and beheaded - a Croatian engineer on the outskirts of Cairo in August, even before the suspected bombing of a Russian airline this month.

The Isis brand has established a front in Libya and has launched attacks in Algeria, where the old regime is fraying, and oil and gas revenues fund the vitally-needed social welfare net.

Iraq is pumping oil a record pace but it is nevertheless spiraling into economic crisis, with a budget deficit of 23pc of GDP. Public sector wages are to be cut. The austerity budget for 2016 - based on $45 oil, down from $80 last year - has set off a political storm.

The government has slashed funding for the "Popular Mobilization" militia fighting Isis. "The Iraqi state faces a grave challenge. The budget crisis makes the status quo intractable," says Patrick Martin from the Institute for the Study of War.

Helima Croft says Isis is now operating close to Iraq's oil facilities near Basra, detonating a car bomb at a market in Zubayr last month. They clearly have the ability to attack energy targets, and have an incentive to do so since oil production within their Caliphate heartland is their main source of income.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb showed it could launch a devastating surprise when it crossed into the Sahara two years ago and seized the Amenas gas facility in Algeria, killing 39 foreign hostages. Variants of Isis can strike anywhere they find a weak link.

"We remain concerned that they may eventually set their sights on a major oil facility. These are obvious targets of choice, and none of this geopolitical risk is priced into the market," she said.

Saudi Arabia itself is vulnerable. There have been five Isis-linked terrorist acts on Saudi soil since May. They include an attack on a security facility near the giant oil installation at Abqaiq, where clusters of pipelines offer the most inviting sabotage target in the petroleum world and where the aggrieved Shia minority sit on the Kingdom's oil reserves.

It would be a macabre irony if Saudi Arabia's high-risk oil strategy so enflamed a region already in the grip of four civil wars that the Kingdom was hoisted by its own petard. That would certainly clear the global glut of crude oil.

vijaykarthik · Post by **vijaykarthik** » 12 Nov 2015 11:56

Funnily, the Yemen govt yday, after denying vehemently all the while, mentioned that the Houthis did indeed gain territory near Aden. That was mentioned along with the typical statement - "this shows that Houthis aren't serious about cease fire".

Going by the way this war is being approached, it leaves a lot to be desired at the armed forces end for KSA, Kuwait, Bahrain etc.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 12 Nov 2015 12:08

vijaykarthik wrote:Funnily, the Yemen govt yday, after denying vehemently all the while, mentioned that the Houthis did indeed gain territory near Aden. That was mentioned along with the typical statement about this shows that Houthis aren't serious about cease fire.

Going by the way this war is being approached, it leaves a lot to be desired at the armed forces end for KSA, Kuwait, Bahrain etc.

According to the Yankee brown nosers on this forum, they should've been bombed into submission months ago.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 12 Nov 2015 12:41

Someone I knew in the unkil forces once said to me that they are careful not to reach the a-rabs too much real fighting skills, mostly to give them shiny toys

Also reflect on comments from unkil troops during yudh-abhyas - we didn't expect brown turdies to know how to do jack...

No surprise for me that ragtag houthis are kicking mush

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 12 Nov 2015 12:54

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/statu ... 3303432192

saudis have rushed in 1000s of african mercs into AL-anad to fight for the airbase. the houthis have taken a overlook near the base and are said to be shelling it.

vijaykarthik · Post by **vijaykarthik** » 12 Nov 2015 13:33

Its absolutely appalling that the idiots lose 4 naval warships. I would have preferred it if KSA had given it to the Indian govt or to Vietnam or some place. Any of these places take atleast better care of their assets.

Asses.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 12 Nov 2015 15:35

the US by its own account continues to provide aerial refueling, bombs, satellite intel and has staffed a joint center in riyadh with some of its own people to help the KSA air campaign.
US CSAR unit has also rescued the crew of a crashed KSA F-15.

nobody can keep up a high tempo air campaign for 9 months now without it telling on airframes and crew. so I suspect the air campaign is much less in sorties than the initial shakina phase. should be a windfall for US cos to repair worn airframes, supply fresh lots of munitions and engine contracts.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2015 15:40

I have seen the Saudi armed forces up close, real close. Completely useless bunch if ever there was one. I have said this repeatedly here and their every outing is one more massive failure, very much like their now-estranged Pakistani Army.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 12 Nov 2015 19:30

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports ... ng-status/

"The Asian shooting championship, which starts in Kuwait this week, has been stripped of its Olympic qualifying status after an Israeli delegate was refused an entry visa, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday.

“Upon request of the International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF), the IOC Executive Board on Friday revoked the Olympic qualification status of the Asian Shooting Championship taking place in Kuwait City between 1 and 12 November,” it said in a statement.

“The decision comes after the designated technical delegate from the ISSF, Yair Davidovich (Israel), who was due to supervise the event on behalf of the ISSF, was denied a visa by the Kuwaiti Immigration Department.”

The IOC said the denial of a visa went against its non-discrimination principle of the Olympic Charter which must apply to all Games qualification competitions.

The Olympic body said another reason for stripping the qualifying status for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games was the ban imposed earlier this week on the Kuwait Olympic Committee from all Games-related activities.

The IOC suspended Kuwait on Tuesday for the second time in five years over government interference in the country’s Games committee.

The IOC said it met the government and the Kuwait Olympic Committee to resolve the issue over a piece of sports legislation that was seen as threatening the autonomy of the Olympic body but the talks proved fruitless.

“Another reason for the decision is the fact that the Kuwait NOC is currently suspended by the IOC due to governmental interference against the rules of the Olympic Charter,” it said.

“The KOC is not entitled to participate in any activity connected with the Olympic Movement or exercise any right conferred upon it by the Olympic Charter or the IOC.”
------------------------------
My comments

India came 3rd here with 15 Gold Medals and overall 37 medals., Korea was 1st, China 2nd then India.

Now a new Shooting championship will be held somewhere where Israeli delegate is allowed. India along with Kazakhstan and Qatar have proposed to have this event in their respective countries! International politics is the culprit.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 12 Nov 2015 19:36

SSridhar wrote:I have seen the Saudi armed forces up close, real close. Completely useless bunch if ever there was one. I have said this repeatedly here and their every outing is one more massive failure, very much like their now-estranged Pakistani Army.

Can you detail more SS?

Thanks

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 12 Nov 2015 22:06

I have seen Iraqi army guys train in Secunderabad in the late 60s till mid 70s, they were also bloated mini Saddams, Only General Aidid of Somalia and his troops picked up warfare techniques in India and then SU. Iranians were also in SLAW

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 12 Nov 2015 22:47

Saudi Authorities Deny Medical Help for Protester Sentenced to Death as a Child

LONDON - The Saudi authorities are refusing to allow Ali al-Nimr, who was sentenced to death aged 17, access to a doctor, according to his family.
Ali was arrested following anti-government protests in 2012, and sentenced to death in a secretive trial on the basis of a “confession” extracted through torture, even though he was a child at the time.

Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at international human rights organization Reprieve said: “Despite claims of reforms, the Saudi Government remains unrepentant over plans to execute protesters, many of whom were sentenced to death as children. It is astonishing that they 'cannot understand' why there is such outrage over this issue. Worse still, they are now denying Ali al Nimr – sentenced to ‘crucifixion’ after severe torture when he was just 17 – access to a doctor. The international community should demand real reform, not smoke and mirror measures to hide these vile abuses.”

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 13 Nov 2015 01:21

Singha wrote:afghanistan? though the soviets extracted a large cost in lives vs their own losses.

But the islamists were supported by Amriki arms and advisers. Did they ever win with their own top military advisers against any professional army? The one large scale war in the region was between Iran vs. Iraq which was a stalemate. Iraq marching into Kuwait is like Gulliver stepping on a lilliputian cockroach. They can do very well against defenseless women, children, journalists, and weak though.

Shanu · Post by **Shanu** » 13 Nov 2015 06:39

What if the unthinkable happens?

That is, what will happen if the Houthis reach back to Aden city. With only the mercenary and a few Qatari troops defending the route, it is a distinct possibility.

Will that not be a massive loss of face for the Saudi leadership?

I mean, losing an airbase to Russian supported Syrian army is one thing, but losing the same to this slipper clad Houthi tribals makes it clear how good the Saudi military is.

And how would the aam Abduls of Saudi Barbaria react? Will they be happy with the oil subsidies that they are getting or will they get off their ass and do something about reclaiming their prestige. Remember, it took an American air base in Saudi to turn Bin Laden into a rebel.

Interesting times ahead, i guess i.e. only if the Arabs still have some self-respect left in them.