Trump Administration Weighs Deeper Involvement In Yemen War by Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan, Washington Post
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has asked the White House to lift Obama-era restrictions on U.S. military support for Persian Gulf states engaged in a protracted civil war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to senior Trump administration officials.
In a memo this month to national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Mattis said that “limited support” for Yemen operations being conducted by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - including a planned Emirati offensive to retake a key Red Sea port - would help combat a “common threat.”
Approval of the request would mark a significant policy shift. U.S. military activity in Yemen until now has been confined mainly to counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda’s affiliate there, with limited indirect backing for Gulf state efforts in a two-year-old war that has yielded significant civilian casualties.
It would also be a clear signal of the administration’s intention to move more aggressively against Iran. The Trump White House, in far stronger terms than its predecessor, has echoed Saudi and Emirati charges that Iran is training, arming and directing the Shiite Houthis in a proxy war to increase its regional clout against the Gulf’s Sunni monarchies.
The administration is in the midst of a larger review of overall Yemen policy that is not expected to be completed until next month…
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And many thought VN was a swamp.....
Thousands rally in support of Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement on war's anniversary
http://read.bi/2oqcv8J
The Yemen conflict may not conclude without the military conquest and occupation of Sana'a. Were that to occur, how to subdue the Zaidi? Their population numbers are underreported and may actually constitute a majority in Yemen.
Moreover, like Baghdad, expecting Sana'a to eventually align against Iran through the application of military force is unrealistic.
So what is the end game for a U.S. military escalation in Yemen? If it is simply to harry Iran, then a successful U.S./KSA outcome to the war could be secondary, and duration of this conflict might mirror that of the historical North Yemen Civil War. Even so, any support by Iran to Yemen remains a very small fraction of that expended by KSA/UAE and the United States.
So it would seem that a U.S. escalation might be considered counterproductive. On the other hand, the calculation may be to provide the Trump Administration with a certain kind of political capital as "getting tough with Iran".