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The attack on Saudi Arabia was claimed by the Houthis which are funded and trained by Iran, and they have Iranian special forces embedded in their units as well
by parsimo2010 7y ago
The attack on Saudi Arabia was claimed by the Houthis which are funded and trained by Iran, and they have Iranian special forces embedded in their units as well. The Houthis are basically a professional military, more than most people realize. They are fighting a proxy war for Iran. The drones that attacked the Saudi oil plants were almost certainly not consumer drones carrying hand grenades, they were actual military drones provided by Iran.
The "asymmetry" that is mentioned is a great soundbite but isn't really accurate. The Houthis either control half or all of Yemen, depending on who you talk to. They aren't exactly pushovers. Compare that to Saudi Arabia, whose military is lazy and poorly trained. They rely on the US presence for security against real threats. Without the USA, they would almost certainly lose a fight against Iran. They are rich and have cool toys but it's laughable at how bad their training is.
To expand, the Houthis likely used drones like this with 60 lbs of explosive stuffed in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Ababil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Ababil. That's a far cry from the $1,000 drone that an academic from Rice University would have you believe.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago“ They are fighting a proxy war for Iran. ” People always think that people who are fighting on their home soil are fighting a proxy war for someone else but have no goals themselves . From what I have read they want to get rid of Saudi Arabia and Iran is helping them. But their main motivation is not Iran. It was the same in the Vietnam war. North Vietnam was supported by China and Russia but their main motivation was to get colonial powers out of the country.
- parsimo2010 7y agoThey may have their own reasons for fighting, but all their money and equipment is provided by Iran. If not for Iran's support, the civil war in Yemen and further conflict with Saudi Arabia could not have happened. Iran provided their support because the Houthis are accomplishing Iran's goals. So this is Iran's war fought using someone else's sons.
- Merrill 7y agoThe unification of North and South Yemen in 1990 was a mistake and there has been trouble ever since.
- adventured 7y ago> The "asymmetry" that is mentioned is a great soundbite but isn't really accurate. It is in fact accurate. Saudi Arabia is spending the third most money of any nation on earth on military. Three times that of Canada. More than France or Britain. More than Russia. The Houthis have at best between 1/60th and 1/100th the military funding of Saudi Arabia. The point made by the quoted person is spot on in regards to the Houthis using cheap drones to hit Saudi Arabia's oil heart, de facto bypassing their massive military spending's ability to stop it. The definition of asymmetry fits perfectly given the radical imbalance between the two on military technology and spending, which is what was being directly stated in the quote (it also fits more broadly with the radical economic & funding potential imbalance between Saudi Arabia and the whole of Yemen, much less the Houthis).
- Merrill 7y agoFor this mission a full set of drone capabilities is not needed. It is really a primitive cruise missile that can maintain altitude above terrain and find its way to the designated target. It doesn't need to send data home or be remotely controlled. I wonder where they were launched from, since the Ababil doesn't have the range to get from Yemen to the target?