Saudi-led coalition’s strategy in Yemen is “desperate”: Brookings

SANAA, July 6 (YPA)- The U.S. Brookings Institution said that the Saudi-led coalition’s strategy in Yemen is desperate, pointing to the failure of the coalition to change the equation in the battle of Hodeidah in Yemen despite the huge potential they have compared to the potential of the Yemeni people.

The institution added in its report that Saudi-led coalition exceeded by military installations and equipment on his Yemeni counterpart Ansarullah despite this advantage; the coalition has not been able to compel Ansarullh fighter to sit down at the negotiating table.

The Saudi ground forces, the regular army, and the national guard are very well equipped, with state-of-the-art tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and attack helicopters. But the Saudi ground forces have largely avoided combat in Yemen, the report said.

The report indicated that (coalition forces) have done poorly in more than a decade of conflict with the Houthis. The coalition instead relies on various Yemeni militias, backed by the Emiratis and Sudanese.

It noted that the imbalance in power between the two sides is overwhelming. But the war is now almost three-and-a-half years old—and the Houthis still control Yemen’s capital Sanaa, and a majority of Yemenis live in the area under their control.

The report confirmed that the coalition forces have barely touched northern Yemen’s high ground, where the Houthis enjoy their strongest popular support.

The institution said that the war is a very expensive burden for the kingdom and a humanitarian catastrophe for Yemen.

It continued saying that the coalition’s attempt to seize the crucial port of Hodeidah, called Operation Golden Victory, is intended to break the stalemate.

Hodeidah is the largest port in northern Yemen and over three-quarters of the food and medicine imported to the north arrives in Hodeidah.

E.M