The Houthi Attack on Saudi Oil Facilities: What Does This Mean for U.S. Involvement in Yemen?
The cold war in the Middle East has led to conflicting and troubling foreign policy messages from the Trump Administration.
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
A key promise of President Trump’s 2016 campaign was to “end the endless wars”, but the administration’s current foreign policy actions directly contradicts that.
President Trump, after a phone call with the Turkish president Recep Erdoğan, withdrew U.S. military forces from Syria. In a statement released on October 6th the White House said, “The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”
Although at first thought, the image of bringing our troops home seems appealing, this action will and already has made Kurdish forces vulnerable and gives way to the reprise of ISIS.
Syria is where a surrogate war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is in high-gear. Iran, along with Russia, is a loyal supporter of President al-Assad, while Saudi Arabia joins American forces in allying with Syrian rebels.
On September 14th 2019, Houthi rebels attacked two Saudi oil facilities which hold half the kingdom's oil capacity and provide the world with 5% of its daily oil supply, an amount crucial to the global economy.
Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, claims Iran was behind the attack, stating in a tweet, “Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply.” Pompeo’s conclusion is supported by two major factors: there is evidence from an investigation conducted by the U.N. of Iran providing the Houthis with weapons. Secondly, the sophistication and precision of the drone attack are unlike Houthis have conducted before, making officials believe a stronger, more technologically advanced military power was behind the attack.
Iran and Saudi Arabia have a tense relationship that markedly escalated after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. After the Arab Spring in 2011, an era in the Middle East noted by vast democratization, the two countries continued to strain their relationship.
Both countries are fighting for regional dominance as a result of their religious differences. Saudi Arabia is dominated by Sunni rule, while Iran regards Shia rule. The reason this conflict has been categorized as a “cold war” is that the two countries fight through proxy wars. One of these is the civil war in Yemen, pitting the Yemeni government against the Houthi rebels.
Following the uprising in 2011 that forced the authoritarian leader of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to give power to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, the country has been in the midst of war.
In northern Yemen, the Houthis are a Shia coalition that rebels against President Hadi (hence Iran’s support). They have united with former President Saleh and are attempting to use his military influence to gain power from the current president, who is supported by Saudi Arabia. Since March of 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a military campaign in Yemen alongside the United Arab Emirates to keep the current administration in power.
The September 14th incident was the most aggressive and detrimental attack by the Houthis to the Saudis to-date. In response, President Trump said, “Do I want war? I don’t want war with anybody,” two days after the attack. Nevertheless, on October 11th the President announced he was sending 2,800 troops to Saudi Arabia to strengthen their defenses against the Houthis. Jonathan Hoffman, the Chief Pentagon Spokesperson, said that the United States “does not seek conflict with the Iranian regime, but we will retain a robust military capability in the region that is ready to respond to any crisis and will defend U.S. forces and interest in the region.”
By sending troops into Saudi Arabia it is erroneous to say that the U.S. does not seek conflict with Iran. History has taught us with the Russian-American Cold War, that supporting one country militarily is indeed pursuing conflict with the opposing side when the only conflict is by proxy.
Outside powers besides the U.S. are becoming involved in the war in Yemen as well. “The Houthis’ interim government has sent delegations to Iran in search of fuel supplies and to Russia to look for investment in energy projects,” according to two senior Houthi officials. Now that the Russians are here to aid the Houthis, Yemen could begin to closely mirror the conflict in Syria.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi responded to the increase of military presence in Saudi Arabia in a statement saying:
“Once again, President Trump is turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s continued violence against innocent Yemenis, as well as its horrific murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its gross abuses of human rights, which represent a moral and humanitarian crisis."
Pelosi would be making a charitable statement compared to the report by the U.N. Human Rights Council released in early September saying the United States was guilty of war crimes in Yemen, and it highlighted America’s complacency to Saudi Arabia’s attack on civilians.
“Five years into the conflict, violations against Yemeni civilians continue unabated, with total disregard for the plight of the people and a lack of international action to hold parties to the conflict accountable,” said Kamel Jendoubi who leads the U.N. investigation into human rights violations in Yemen. President Trump continuing to send military aid and forces into Saudi Arabia will only amplify the United State’s complacency to Saudi Arabia’s attacks on Yemeni citizens.
It has become increasingly unclear where the President’s foreign policy lies when concerning Iran. On one hand, by withdrawing from Syria, the President is enabling Iranian success, but by heightening United States presence in Saudi Arabia, the President is attempting to inhibit Iranian success in the battle for regional dominance.
