00:00Fierce fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen continued over the weekend.
00:06Can Saudi Arabia respond without being pulled back into a wider conflict?
00:11Middle East analyst Dr. James Dorsey says years of airstrikes have failed to weaken the group,
00:18raising questions over whether Riyadh should keep up its military pressure or return to the negotiating table.
00:26First of all, Saudi Arabia is in a real bind at the moment.
00:30And it has to take a fundamental decision on how it's going to respond to this crisis.
00:36And there are various responses possible.
00:39One is to do nothing.
00:41One is to return to aerial bombardment.
00:44But let's face it, over the last decade, that was the tactic.
00:49You had seven years of active warfare, Saudi-led warfare, which was primarily air-dominated.
00:56And the Houthis still stand over end.
01:00And still are a de facto state.
01:02And the third is negotiations.
01:06And there's a history of negotiations.
01:09There are proposals on the table.
01:10And that, you know, obviously would be the most logical way forward.
01:18Whether that's going to happen, I think we'll have to wait and see.
01:23This is not an existential threat, but it is to the kingdom as such.
01:29But it is an existential threat to the backbone of its economy.
01:34And it's, of course, incredibly important for global energy markets.
01:39Dorsey said the latest escalation is intended to push Saudi Arabia back to the negotiating table.
01:47Essentially, what's behind this is that that's where you see the initial link, that the Houthis saw an opportunity as
01:58a result of the Iran war.
02:00Saudi Arabia was weakened.
02:02Negotiations had essentially stalled.
02:06You had a no peace, no war situation since the ceasefire in 2022.
02:11And the Houthis saw an opportunity to pressure the Saudis to come back to the negotiating table and to come
02:19to an agreement that would keep the Houthis in power.
02:24On the one hand, would give the Houthis access to funding that they basically desperately need because of the dire
02:34economic situation in Yemen.
02:39And so that's what that's what this that's what this that's how this developed and that's what this is now.
02:46That is not to say that there is that there are not interests that are aligned between Iran and the
02:54Houthis.
02:55There are interests aligned.
Comments