“The war was never winnable in the first place.' Saudi Arabia remains largely alone, calling for ever greater U.S. arms support to pursue an increasingly unpopular war where victory seems remote, if not impossible.
Saudi Arabia called its military push against rebels in Yemen two names: “Operation Storm of Decisiveness” and “Operation Restoring Hope” .
“The war was never winnable in the first place,” said Farea Muslimi, head of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, a think tank based in Yemen’s capital, in a phone interview.There’s little sign, nevertheless, that the Saudis or the Houthis, a politico-religious group, are ready to quit the fight. Saudi Arabia launched its intervention in March 2015. It was meant to signal a new era of muscular foreign policy, especially in Saudi Arabia’s longtime clash with Iran.
The human cost of the war has been devastating, with millions of people displaced and in need of assistance. Mounting casualties in the country became a cudgel for human rights campaigners. Even U.S. lawmakers, usually obsequious with their Saudi and Emirati allies, joined in the outcry, especially after the killing last year of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which is widely viewed by international officials to have been commanded by Bin Salman.
The Saudi coalition had long accused the Houthis of using Hudaydah to control aid flows and smuggle weapons, and had clamored to take it. But widespread international pressure proved strong; an offensive set for last year was canceled, and a cease-fire in Hudaydah became the centerpiece of U.N.-brokered peace talks held in December in Stockholm.
The UAE has trained tens of thousands of local fighters to take over its duties in Yemen, said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a UAE-based political analyst.
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