Yemen Is Dying. We’re Killing It
The U.S. Senate’s Dec. 12, 2018 vote to compel the Pentagon to end its support for Saudi Arabia’s war in the Republic of Yemen was extraordinary. First, it is rare that the top political leadership of the world’s foremost war-maker — the United States — takes action against ongoing... Read more
Yemen’s Descent Into Hell
It’s the war from Hell, the savage one that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, along with seven other Middle East and North African states, have been waging in Yemen since March 2015, with fulsome support from the Pentagon and American weapons galore. It’s got everything. Dead children... Read more
Donald Trump and the Art of the Arms Deal
It’s one of those stories of the century that somehow never gets treated that way. For an astounding 25 of the past 26 years, the United States has been the leading arms-dealer on the planet, at some moments in near monopolistic fashion. Its major weapons-producers, including Boeing, Raytheon and... Read more
L’émergence d’un nouvel État au Yemen
Un nouveau pays commence à émerger du chaos et de la confusion dans la guerre civile yéménite. Le coup d’Etat à Aden fin janvier 2018 semble accélérer le processus. Le Yémen moderne trouve ses racines dans la période de 1990 à 1994, quand le Nord soutenu par les Saoudiens... Read more
A New State Is Emerging in Yemen
A new country is beginning to form in the chaos and confusion of Yemen’s civil war. A coup in Aden in late January 2018 has hastened the process. The new Yemen has its roots in the period 1990 to 1994, when the Saudi-supported North Yemen and the Cuban/Soviet-supported South... Read more
The Houthis’ Do-It-Yourself Air Defenses
Read parts one and two. When the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, it quickly neutralized most of the Houthis’ air defenses. Nearly all of the radars and launchers belonging to the Houthis’ five air-defense brigades were destroyed by mid-April 2015. Elements of two air-defense brigades... Read more
The Houthis’ Do-It-Yourself Air Defenses
Read part one. As of 2014, Yemeni air defenses were grouped into nine air-defense brigades, each operating a mix of surface-to-air missile sites equipped with S-75/SA-2, S-125/SA-3, 2K12/SA-6 and 9K31/SA-9 missile systems. By the time Houthi insurgents descended from the mountains of northern Yemen and brought Sana’a under their... Read more
The Houthis’ Do-It-Yourself Air Defenses
On the evening of Jan. 7, 2018, the coalition of the Houthi insurgency and Yemeni military units that sided with the Houthis claimed to have shot down a Saudi Tornado fighter-bomber. A day later, Houthi and allied forces claimed to have shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter. In support... Read more
Making Sense of the Missile Mess in Yemen
Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a missile at King Khalid International Airport outside the Saudi capital Riyadh on the evening of Nov. 4, 2017. Where in the world did the rebels get that rocket — as well as the scores of other missiles they’ve launched recently? It’s hard to... Read more
In 1970, Soviet Planes Intervened to Save North Yemen
September 2017 marks the second anniversary of the Russian military intervention in Syria. Foreign military observers are frequently drawing parallels between this operation and the deployment of Soviet air-defense troops and manned interceptors to Egypt in early 1970, pointing it out as the first Soviet – and thus Russian... Read more