From the United Arab Emirates minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargesh, referring to a joint UAE and Saudi Arabia military campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen:
The campaign in Yemen marks “a new page of Arab cooperation for the security of the region.”
The Wall Street Journal, “Saudis Rally Sunni Coalition as Bulwark Against Iranians,” 3/27/15
The two countries have received pledges of support from Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, Jordan, Pakistan, Sudan, and Turkey. The US has tried to get many of these countries to help fight the war against the Islamic State, without much to show for it. What’s the difference between Islamic State and the Houthis? The former is Sunni Islamic, as are the countries lined up against the Houthis, who are Shiite. As is usually the case in the Middle East, and has been the case for many centuries, it comes down to the religious divide. The Saudi coalition will probably make short work of the Houthis in next-door neighbor Yemen, and it could probably do the same with the Islamic State, if it wanted to. However, US policymakers who are foolishly enough to ask Vladimir Putin for debt relief for Ukraine (See “Kiev, Moscow, Bonds and Haircuts,” SLL, 3/27/15) are foolish enough to believe that Sunni states will take out a Sunni force fighting Shiite nations Syria, Iraq, and Iran. How did the Middle East manage for thousands of years without US micromanagement?
