On October 18, the Houthis carried out a hit and run attack on positions of the Saudi military inside the villages of al-Sufi, al-Dubirah and al-Amdan in the Kingdom’s southern province of Jizan, according to the al-Masirah TV.
The Yemeni group claimed that its fighters killed and injured many Saudi soldiers during the attack, that lasted for several hours. Furthermore, several vehicles of the Saudi military were reportedly destroyed.
In the province of Najran, east of Jizan, Houthi fighters stormed the al-Hamad military position and destroyed an armored vehicle and a pickup truck of the Saudi military. According to al-Masirah, several Saudi soldiers were also killed and injured during the heavy clashes there.
The Houthis stepped up their cross-border attacks in the last two weeks. This step is clearly aimed at pressuring the Saudi-led coalition, which was planning to resume its military operations on the western coast of Yemen.
On to Riyadh, no prisoners.
For sure, although I expect MbS will be deposed before that happens
The reason the Houthis can afford to take the war into Saudi territory is because they have little fear of a renewed coalition assault on Hodeidah.
We now may be witnessing the endgame phase of this conflict as the Houthis ramp up the pressure with the goal to trigger the downfall of MbS from power – the increasing threat to Saudi sovereignty is exposing for all to see just how big a disaster the Yemen campaign has been for the Coalition.
The blame for the fiasco falls on the shoulders of the Crown Price and as the days go by, the weight increases until the breaking point. Either MbS will step down, or be deposed by his numerous enemies.
Plus killing Saudi soldiers puts real pressure on bin Salman. Just killing ‘coalition backed Yemenis and mercenaries’ is just money. Money can be replaced, native blood cannot be replaced. The Saudis have to defend the border towns, losing even one would be a real blow to bin Salman’s prestige.
Those mercenaries cost not only money but also time for basic training, war effort stalling can lead to punishing officers, even generals or even worse, mutiny.
Agreed. What you say is important and in fact has already happened. This is one reason the Houthis can engage Coalition forces directly and so successfully – the will to fight is not there. This is my assessment of what happened:
The war effort stalled in late June when offensive operations were declared ‘paused’ by the Coalition – this was a cover for the destruction of the original coalition force of 21,000 heavily armed troops/mercenaries that was expected to easily smash the Houthi Defences and take Hodeidah.
The Coalition announcement in July of a general amnesty for all military personnel in Yemen tells the story of the fate of the Coalition force attacking Hodeidah – the amnesty announcement referred explicitly to desertion and insubordination due to refusal to fight. The Coalition force, after being cut off, desintigrated by mass desertion.
Operation Golden Victory was launched with the assumption that victory was assured. But the Coalition proved grossly incompetent by committing the main force headlong into an obvious trap as the Houthis retreated intentionally to draw the forces far from supply bases. With supply lines vulnerable, the Houthis struck and very effectively. Many commentators here, including myself, recognized the trap and we were astonished the Coalition leadership fell for it.
The repercussions of the disastrous operation to take Hodeidah are manifold. Mercenaries see serving the coalition as practically a death sentence and given that the dead cannot spend their pay check, mercenaries are abandoning the Coalition. The Coalition will have difficulty recruiting mercenaries to replace losses as mercenaries equate signing up to a death sentence.
MbS also alienated the Military when he arrested members of the royal family, fired generals in February to take more direct control as defence minister with unprecedented autocratic authority. The problem for MbS is that his gamble in Yemen had to succeed to secure his position. His gamble failed and the Crown Prince is well aware of the price for failure as he desperately tries to delay the day of reckoning.
That day cannot be delayed much longer as the regular army has shown an unwillingness to fight as they want to see the downfall of MbS. So now it is just a matter of time
I agree with you except your point regarding mercenaries. See my reply to occupybacon.
Fair enough, killing a mercenary does harm but killing a native Saudi does even more harm.
great work houthis!!! keep murdering saudi scumbags!! :)))
Even a French report stated that 60% of Saudi armor including US M1 Abrams, Bradleys and French LeClerc tanks have been destroyed or damaged by the brave and tenacious Zaidis. The orange idiot Trump is right when he said that Saudis could not last a couple of weeks without US help. Despite the Khashoggi headchopping, the US, UK, France and Canada are providing over $150 billion in new weaponry. There are reports that US and UK pilots now fly all the bombing missions of Yemeni civilians.
may they all burn in hellll for their atrocities!
The Saudi cowardly criminal headchoppers regime has been armed to the tune of over $2 trillion in western weaponry since 1960 and is being humiliated by Ansarollah Yemenis wearing sandals and chewing khat. The US, UK and France are basically managing the Yemen quagmire for the Saudi idiots.