UK offers defensive support to Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks

I have to say this is pragmatic from Burnham as he realises the Houthies are a an economic threat to the UK.

As expected limited outcry from the usual suspects over 10s of thousands of displaced people as Jews weren't involved.

Hamas Houthis same cloth same terrorist agenda.

Quote "Hamas Houthis same cloth same terrorist agenda."

Actually no. The Houthi are very strange. And they are not a sovereign country. Nobody, so far as I can tell, are keen on what they want.

What nobody does want however, is more dead people.

All Iranian proxies determined to attack western interests and add in a few citizens. We are right to help Saudi against the Iranian axis of evil.

They want what Iran wants. They are funded by Iran.

Part funded apparently. I recall most of their arms were captured from the Yemen government.

If the Houthi are getting money from Iran, and the Houthi are buying arms, who do they buy them from ?

Or if Iran sends the Houthi arms, how does that work ? It's not as if there are no US ships in the area. And this round kicked off because an Iranian plane tried to land in Yemen, possibly with missiles? So SA bombed them. Because there was a deal in place that said no Iranian planes allowed.

What is it that you expect people to object to?
The government is acting to protect national interests. Isn’t that their job? The help is confined to fuelling support of SA planes.

Really surprised US not showing more support for SA. Must mighty piss off SA. Surprised at what the Houthis they have achieved

There is a muted response against Houthis causing civilian anguish in Yemen when compared to Gaza. I was just making the point that it seems for some compassion can only be afforded to those civilians that come from territories at war with Israel.

It was all over the news about 8 years ago. There was a massive humanitarian crisis. Then there was a ceasefire deal made.

It has only recently kicked off again.

I think they collaborate more than anything, apparently IRGC are on the ground in Yemen according to a Yemeni analyst I follow on twitter.

And yes Britain needs to bare it’s teeth here, it needs to be done they threaten our interests. Saudi though has a defence budget of 80 billion annually yet still manage to be completely useless, extraordinary really. I guess groups like the Houthis tend to be more meritocratic rather than “the head of the army is my cousin” which probably makes a difference.

Situation in Yemen is fucking dire, child malnutrition is at almost 50% it’s really awful. I remember years ago that a lot of water was being diverted to grow khat rather than food.

I think it’s probably because a) they didn’t sign the abraham accords b) when the iran thing kicked off they refused to support the USA of allow use of their infrastructure.

The reality is something has to be done about it, I think eventually the USA will have to join in. I actually can’t believe that Saudi watched them crossing open ground and didn’t just carpet bomb them on their way to the coast. No risk of civilian casualties, they were all driving in columns. I have zero sympathy for a bunch of junkie religious fanatics before anyone complains about my lack of compassion. They have displaced millions of people, terrorised their own population and deserve a kicking.

One of the features of that crisis was how hard it was to get anyone to care. I remember it well.

The UK provided over £1 billion in aid to Yemen from 2015 to April 2024.

Is there something you else that you would have expected UK government to do or say - that caused consternation to it’s population?

Ask anyone in the aid community and it was tough to get the population to care. I dont recall lots of grass roots activism - maybe your experience was different. Do tell.

Trump has been encouraging SA to invest heavily in US and his family have strong business links.

There were also numerous countries that didn’t support the U.S. in their war against Iran due to political/ legal concerns. I think it’s more than a personal grudge by the Donald

I liked the following explanation-

“The US has participated in the Yemen conflict in the past. It reached an understanding with the Houthis in 2025, under which it stopped its bombing campaign in return for a Houthi commitment not to attack American vessels.

That arrangement is still relevant. Right now, the Houthis are threatening only Saudi ships in the Red Sea, but they have the power to completely disrupt navigation in this crucial water body. With the world still reeling from the economic shock of the blocked Strait of Hormuz, the US would not want this.

Also, US munitions are running low as the war with Iran grinds on.

The Trump administration would not want to open another front in the Middle East when midterm elections are approaching and the Iran war is anyway unpopular.“

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/saudi-arabia-defence-pact-pakistan-turkey-us-houthis-10882946/

So U.S. don’t want their own ships bombed, their munitions are running low and it won’t play well to the electorate prior midterms. Shows what a precarious position even the U.S. are in.

How many billions has Saudi Arabia spent on arms over the years - what was it for if they can't defend themselves against a rag-tag army of neighbouring rebels

Just last week Trump claimed that the Houthis called and asked him not to attack them, and he agreed! Presumably because they told him they are only targeting Saudi vessels - so he's left Saudi to fend for themselves. MBS must be confused!

I am glad that the government was taken to court to look at its arms sales to SA. There are always concerns that we need to provide more money to humanitarian disasters.

I think there would have been far more outrage if the government was seen as supporting the Houthis themselves- but I can’t imagine that this would have happened.

Can you imagine a situation where governments condone actions of an organisation seemingly appearing to break humanitarian law? I can imagine this might get people a bit wound up.

Yes I know all that but the consensus with analysts is that Trump is throwing a bit of a strop.

There is definitely a problem with supply for the Americans but I think it’s also sending a message to gulf kingdoms about co-operating with America. It’s a reminder of how utterly helpless they are without being able to count on the americans and maybe next time america asks you to do something you should think about doing it to be blunt. I think during the war only the emirates struck Iran after being bombed, they also co-operated with america in shutting down financial institutions access to Iran and were rewarded with an an upgraded export license by the americans.

There is also the problem with the Houthis of needing boots on the ground, the saudis initially weren’t even providing air cover to Yemeni forces. I think part of the idea is to force the gulf to start taking more responsibility for it’s own security so america can pivot more heavily towards the east. Neutralising Iran would help but the remaining problem is Yemen and Iraq really.

The Houthis hi-jacking shipping lanes is genuinely a problem for america (for everyone really). I think Trump will let them twist in the wind for a bit and then help. Theres talk of help from the Israelis but I’m not sure how forthcoming they will be with either Britain or Saudi. The Americans aren’t stupid enough to think allowing the Houthis to have control over waterways long term will be fine and dandy. Once they are embedded they will be hard to shift. Regardless of any agreement the reality is as soon as they think they are solidly in they will hold that area hostage, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pull an Iran and try to toll anyone going through.

I think any army facing something like the Houthis or the taliban is going to have a problem. Plus they have actual fighting experience, highly unified and also relatively meritocratic compared to arab armies. Reems have been written about why arab armies are so ineffective especially compared to terrorist groups. A lot of it has to do with unwillingness to share information, a lack of meritocratic advancement, unwillingness to do basic things like maintain equipment, poor trust in leadership.

I’m pretty certain that most western armies would have a hard time with the Houthis as well.

Yes, but they are not an official army of a country - just rebels armed by Iran, but the Saudi's seem impotent considering the hardware they have

Probably much of the software is under US control so can't be used without their approval/participation