By sustaining nearly a month of intensive airstrikes in Yemen, Saudi Arabia shows it can lead a complicated military campaign
RIYADH—Watching Saudi Arabia spend hundreds of billions of dollars on sophisticated weapons in the past decade, many friends and foes of the oil-rich kingdom often wondered to what extent it would be capable of using them.
Now, there is an answer. By sustaining nearly a month of intensive airstrikes in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has shown that—from a purely military standpoint—it can lead a lengthy and complicated campaign.
It’s still far from clear that Riyadh will achieve its ultimate goal of rolling back the pro-Iranian Houthi forces that have taken over much of Yemen. The military campaign, the first that Saudi Arabia has led since 1934, has suffered setbacks—most notably an unexpected refusal by traditional ally Pakistan to join the coalition.
WNU Editor: The Saudis have spent tens of billions of dollars on their military in the past decade .... so yes .... I am sure that they have the ability to wage an air campaign against a foe that does not have any air defenses. But if the war continues and the casualties continue to rise .... and the prospect of Saudi boots on the ground becomes more probable .... that is when we will really know if the Saudis can lead a complicated military campaign. My prediction .... they probably can sustain a military campaign for a while .... but it is the political blow-back that I suspect is there biggest weakness (and fear) .... especially if Yemen becomes a quagmire for them which will probably be the case if they start sending their ground forces into the country.
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With stress like war often comes political change.
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