Did your media sources let you know that Saudi Arabia and the UAE just conducted a successful invasion of Yemen which has the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthis in full retreat? This invasion was conducted by both land and sea insertion of “two armored brigades and commando battalions” (first link). The first link notes that no one knew that any nation in the region could conduct a seaborne invasion. They report that long columns of Saudi and UAE battle tanks and ground forces are driving the Iranian Houthi proxy force back to their northern tribal region (second link).
It is most significant that the Sunni governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE decided to intervene at this time in a major way to drive Iranian-backed forces out of as much of Yemen as possible and reclaim it for the prior Sunni government of Yemen. It is also significant that the first link adds that the Egyptian navy joined the sea bombardment of the Shiite positions to support the landing of Saudi and UAE forces. The Saudis and Egypt are acting strongly in concert to oppose Iran’s efforts to gain control of the approaches to the Suez Canal by having their Houthi proxies gain control of Yemen’s side of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Egypt has a vital interest in driving Iranian-backed forces away from those shores. Egypt, amidst much fanfare, has just opened an expansion of the Suez Canal which is expected to give Egypt a bigger role in global maritime commerce and higher canal transit revenues (third link). Egypt cannot afford to have any Iranian-backed Shiite forces controlling the access to its expanded Suez Canal (hence the Egyptian navy’s role in shelling the Shiite forces as part of the unexpectedly-large Sunni invasion of Yemen). The Suez Canal festivities were attended by French President Hollande and Russia’s Prime Minister Medvedev. President Obama was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was too busy golfing to attend to important international matters.
While not mentioned in the links, two other nations directly benefited from the Saudi-UAE invasion of Yemen. Those nations are Israel and Jordan. Both Israel and Jordan have ports in the Gulf of Aqaba at the northern terminus of the Red Sea and all maritime traffic to and from Jordan and Israel to the Indian Ocean transits the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden along Yemen’s shoreline. The Saudi-UAE invasion into Yemen has the unpublicized side effect of securing maritime shipping routes for Israel and Jordan.
I think there is a good chance that the timing of this Saudi-UAE invasion into Yemen is related to the Iranian nuclear deal negotiated with Iran by the Obama administration. That agreement seems to be lopsidedly in favor of Iran which is due to get an immense windfall of funds when sanctions against it are lifted and money currently frozen abroad is repatriated to Iran. When that happens, Iran will have lots of money to send weaponry to its proxies: the Houthis, Hezbollah, the Assad government of Syria, etc. I think both the Saudis and the UAE leaders realized this, and they moved to seize the important airports and regions of Yemen before Iran could act to resupply its Houthi proxies inside Yemen. The Sunni nations have indicated in this action that they are “playing for keeps,” and that they have no intention of backing down to Iran and the Shiites. It is my view that if the Obama administration had a clue about America’s vital interests in the region, they would have (A) not negotiated the Iranian nuclear deal, (B) openly and firmly supported the Sunni alliance in the region vs. the Iranian Shiite bloc, and (C) affirmed Egypt by sending the American President to attend the ceremony celebrating the expansion of the Suez Canal.
This Sunni invasion into Yemen benefits Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the UAE. My posts have, for years, discussed the growing alliance/alignment of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. It looks like the UAE has decided to join that bloc as well. These events are all acting to help shape the “latter day” global alliances into the positions prophesied for them in Ezekiel 38-39. It looks ever more likely that while Iran (“Persia”) is firmly in the Gog-Magog bloc, the Sunni nations listed above will not be part of that bloc.
- http://www.debka.com/article/24784/Saudi-and-UAE-armored-brigades-and-commando-forces-land-in-Aden-as-Houthi-insurgents-fall-back
- https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2015/08/04/u-a-e-and-saudi-troops-land-in-force-in-yemen-advancing-coalition-fight-against-houthis/
- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33800076
