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Trajectory from Yemen misses Jeddah and Riyadh by 100s of km. My guess is Saudi doesn't want to start shit with Yemen again, especially in defense of Israel. Ev
by maxglute 3y ago
Trajectory from Yemen misses Jeddah and Riyadh by 100s of km. My guess is Saudi doesn't want to start shit with Yemen again, especially in defense of Israel. Even more so when Houthi's have demonstrated capability of hitting Saudi energy infra a few years ago and now ships in transit.
Regional force balance has changed. Iran/Yemen has developed reasonably competent missile tech that they destroy regional energy infra and potentially to revert rich petro states into desert tribes while globe is warming. While robbing world of 1/3 oil/lng. No one wants to risk that over Israel, least of all arabs.
- ethbr1 3y ago> Trajectory from Yemen misses Jeddah and Riyadh by 100s of km. The Red Sea is only 200 km across, off Jeddah.
- maxglute 3y agoThere's a large depopulated corridor between Yemen, Saudi, Jordan and Israel. 200km is a lot, enough that risk to major urban centres low which increase costs of intervening. US rushed anti missile platforms in region months ago, I think Saudi shot some a few down initially but have since stopped. Or at least there's no reporting of it.
- ethbr1 3y agoThat was the other point, that the more direct route that avoids US and allied naval assets is across the interior of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. But it starts being politically sensitive when Israeli radars see cruise missiles and drones coming across national borders. Which means there are probably some murky bargains to the effect of "Israeli doesn't care about a few Houthi drones, compared to Hamas and Hezbollah, and so looks the other way so that Jordan and Saudi Arabia can avoid inflaming their populaces by taking an active stance."