(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia pledged to continue air strikes against Shiite rebels in Yemen to prop up an allied government as Gulf States held talks on requesting a United Nations arms embargo.
Saudi jets bombed the capital of Sana’a into the early morning hours on Friday, and strikes will continue “as long as necessary,” said Ahmed Asseri, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition leading the campaign. The air campaign, codenamed “Operation Decisive Storm,” is targeting military commands, communications facilities and air defenses, he said.
With the bombs falling, Arab nations in the region reached out to members of the United Nations Security Council about a possible resolution calling for an arms embargo against the rebels, said two Arab diplomats, who declined to be named because the negotiations aren’t concluded. A resolution may also call for international monitors along the coast to enforce the embargo.
Yemen’s conflict is drawing in neighbors and threatening a wider war in a region that holds more than half the world’s oil. Saudi Arabia and its allies support President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi, while Shiite-led Iran has ties with the rebels, known as the Houthis. Years of unrest and uprisings have already weakened Yemen’s government and allowed al-Qaeda to establish a base in the country.
Brent crude declined 1.5 percent to $58.33 a barrel paring gains of more than 7 percent in the previous two days that were triggered by the crisis. Kuwait oil prices rose $3.73 to reach $52.69 on Thursday, Kuwait News Agency said, citing a statement from Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Yemen’s southern tip, called the Bab el-Mandeb, is a choke point in international shipping and the global energy trade.
Coalition Forces
The Saudis lead a coalition of 10 Sunni-ruled nations that have carried out raids around Sana’a, which is controlled by Houthi rebels. The attack came after the rebels advanced on the southern port of Aden, where forces loyal to Hadi had rallied. A new wave of airstrikes began late Thursday, pounding army posts around the capital as anti-aircraft artillery fired back.
The Saudis informed U.S. intelligence officials earlier this week that they might take military action to prevent Aden falling to the rebels, two U.S. officials said Thursday in Washington.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the airstrikes then made use of imagery and targeting information from U.S. intelligence and other assets. While Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations possess attack and aerial refueling aircraft, they lack the reconnaissance satellites, drones and eavesdropping equipment in the American inventory.
Thousands of Houthi supporters have protested in the capital against the air strikes, and chanted slogans denouncing the Gulf countries and the U.S.
Yemen’s president Hadi arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh Thursday, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar said they responded to a request from Hadi, SPA said. Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan are also part of the operation, according to Al Arabiya.
Ground Troops
The coalition has no immediate plan to send ground troops to Yemen, though it’s ready to do so if needed and plans to continue the air operation for as long as is necessary, Asseri said.
The U.S., which withdrew its special forces from Yemen amid the past week’s turmoil, counts Hadi’s government as an ally against al-Qaeda. President Barack Obama has “authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support” for the Gulf-led operation, the White House said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries haven’t requested any logistical or aerial refueling support, according to Air Force Major Omar Villarreal, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
Al-Qaeda Haven
Arab foreign ministers meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh agreed in principle on a joint military force, and Egypt has expressed readiness to send troops, according to Al Arabiya TV.
The Houthis, who are fighting al-Qaeda throughout Yemen, accuse Hadi of tacitly supporting the jihadists. Their leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, in a televised address late Thursday, denounced an “unjustified aggression” and accused the Saudis and other countries that joined the bombing of being “puppets” of the West.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said the Gulf intervention would play into the hands of al-Qaeda and Islamic State, according to official Press TV.
The Houthi advance has been accelerated by an alliance with Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president who ceded power to Hadi under a Gulf-brokered accord in 2011, and who still retains the loyalty of some military units.
Assertive Policy
The oil-rich Sunni Arab states of the Persian Gulf, longtime U.S. allies, have pursued more assertive foreign policies in recent years, sending troops to crush a pro-democracy uprising in Bahrain and taking part in U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State in Syria.
They’re seeking to ward off perceived threats to their absolute monarchies, especially from Shiite groups or from Sunni Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood that seek power via the ballot box.
The Houthis follow the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam and say they don’t take orders from Iran. Zaidis make up about 40 percent of Yemen’s population, concentrated in the northern half of a country that was reunified in 1990 after decades of division into two states.
To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Riyadh at gcarey8@bloomberg.net; Mohammed Hatem in Sana’a at mhatem1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net Jack Fairweather, Donna Abu-Nasr
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