[Home Guy[_4_]]

Looks like those millions of dollars of cash air-lifted to Iran on
wooden pallets as part of his JCPOA deal are finally paying off for
Iran...

Just in case Trader doesn't believe me:

https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/03/polit...ash/index.html

==================

Three Saudi Brigades Reportedly Annihilated In Devastating Houthi
Offensive In Saudi Arabia

Mon, 09/30/2019 - 11:52

Authored by Federico Pieraccini via The Strategic CUlture Foundation

Many may have hitherto been led to believe that the Houthis were a
ragtag armed force lacking in sophistication. Many, seeing the drone and
missile attacks on Saudi oil plants, may have declared it to be a
false-flag attack carried out by Riyadh to boost Aramco’s market value;
either that or it was an operation carried out by Iran or even Israel.

On Saturday September 28, the Houthis put paid to such speculation by
confirming what many, like myself, have been writing for months; that
is, that the asymmetrical tactics of the Houthis, combined with the
conventional capabilities of the Yemeni army, are capable of bringing
the Saudi kingdom of Mohammed Bin Salman to its knees.

The Yemeni army’s missile forces are able to carry out highly complex
attacks, no doubt as a result of reconnaissance provided by the local
Shia population within the Kingdom that is against the House of Saud’s
dictatorship. These Houthi sympathisers within Saudi Arabia helped in
target identification, carried out reconnaissance within the plants,
found the most vulnerable and impactful points, and passed this
intelligence on to the Houthis and Yemeni army. These Yemeni forces
employed locally produced means to severely degrade Saudi Arabia’s
crude-oil-extraction and processing plants. The deadly strikes halved
oil production and threatened to continue with other targets if the
Saudi-conducted genocide in Yemen did not stop.

On Saturday 29 the Houthis and the Yemeni army conducted an incredible
conventional attack lasting three days that began from within Yemen’s
borders. The operation would have involved months of intelligence
gathering and operational planning. It was a far more complex attack
than that conducted against Aramco’s oil facilities. Initial reports
indicate that the forces of the Saudi-led coalition were lured into
vulnerable positions and then, through a pincer movement conducted
quickly within Saudi territory, the Houthis surrounded the town of
Najran and its outskirts and got the better of three Saudi brigades
numbering in the thousands and including dozens of senior officers as
well as numerous combat vehicles. This event is a game changer, leaving
the US, Mike Pompeo and the Israelis and Saudis unable to lay the blame
on Iran as all this took place a long way from Iran.

The large-scale operation was preceded by Yemeni rocket artillery
targeting Jizan airport, with 10 missiles paralyzing any movements to
and from the airport, including denying the possibility of air support
for the encircled troops. The Houthis also hit the King Khalid
International Airport in Riyadh in a key operation that targeted Apache
helicopters, forcing them to leave the area. Nearby military bases were
also targeted so as to cut off any reinforcements and disrupt the chain
of command. This led to the Saudi forces fleeing in disorganization.
Images shown by the Houthis show a road in the middle of a valley on the
outskirts of Najran with dozens of Saudi armored vehicles trying to flee
while being attacked from both sides by Houthi RPGs together with heavy
and light weapons. Visual confirmation of the debacle can be seen in the
number of casualties as well as in the number of prisoners taken. Images
show lines of Saudi prisoners walking under Yemeni guard towards prison
camps. This is something extraordinary to behold: the Saudi army, the
third largest purchaser of weapons in the world, getting comprehensively
walloped by one of the poorest countries in the world. The numbers say
it all: the Houthis were able to control more than 350 kilometers of
Saudi territory. Given that the Saudi military budget is almost 90
billion dollars a year, this achievement is made all the more
extraordinary.

Houthi forces employed drones, missiles, anti-aircraft systems, as well
as electronic warfare to prevent the Saudis from supporting their troops
with aviation or other means to assist their trapped men. Testimony from
Saudi soldiers suggest that efforts to rescue them were half-hearted and
of little effect. Saudi prisoners of war accuse their military leaders
of having left them prey to their opponents.

The Yemeni army and the Houthis were within less than 10 days able to
inflict a devastating blow to both the credibility of US defense systems
and the Saudi military. They did this by employing creative methods
suitable for the objective at hand.

They initially revealed the internal vulnerability of the Kingdom
through such a level of penetration into Saudi Arabia that they were
able to conduct internal reconnaissance through the assistance of
infiltrators or local collaborators so as to know exactly where to hit
the oil installations for maximum effect and damage.

They subsequently demonstrated their technical and cyber capabilities
through an asymmetrical operation employing drones of various types as
well as electronic warfare to blind the US Patriot system’s radars, in
the process halving Saudi Arabia’s oil production for a period of time
Aramco is yet to determine.

Finally, the most surprising and astounding aspect of these recent
events is this most recent Yemeni ground operation that was carried out
in hostile territory and succeeded in surrounding three brigades
consisting of thousands of men and their equipment. Thousands of Yemeni
soldiers loyal to Ansarullah (Houthis) took part in this successful
operation, supported by drones, ground-attack aircraft and air-defense
batteries. Such capabilities are ordinarily better associated with
well-trained and well-equipped militaries rather than militaries coming
from the Third World.

The Houthis issued a clear message to Riyadh when they hit its oil
installations. They effectively let it be known that they had the means
and capability to damage the Kingdom irreparably, leading ultimately to
the overthrow of the House of Saud.

The Yemeni army spokesman announced, after hitting the Saudi oil
facilities, that they would stop all offensive actions using drones and
missiles, leaving it up to Riyadh to decide whether things stopped there
and they sat down at the negotiating table to end the conflict, or
whether Saudi Arabia was in the mood for more of the same treatment.

Mohammed bin Salman would no doubt have received manifold reassurances
from the Americans, explaining away the failure of the Patriot systems
and assuring him that more American assistance was on the way; and that
it would, moreover, be impossible to come to an agreement with the
Houthis, especially given that they are considered to be a proxy of the
Iranians (a debunked lie); not to mention, of course, the huge loss of
prestige that would befall the Saudis, Israelis and Americans were such
a capitulation to occur.

There is already talk in Riyadh of receiving new supplies of the THAAD
system (similarly useless against Houthi asymmetrical warfare) and other
very expensive American air-defense systems. It is too bad for the
Saudis that the US has nothing like the Pantsir and the Russian BUK
systems, which allow for a multi-layered air defense, ideal for
defending against small, low-flying drones and missiles that are
difficult to intercept with such systems as the Patriot and THAAD.

Instead of starting peace talks to stop the ongoing genocide in Yemen
and being hit again by the Houthis in response, Mohammed bin Salman and
his advisors seem to have seen it fit to commit further war crimes in
Yemen.

Faced with such intransigence, the Houthis went ahead with a new attack
even more devastating for Saudi morale and discombobulating for Western
policy-makers. Thousands of men and their equipment were either killed,
wounded, or taken captive in a pincer movement reminiscent of the DPR
and LNR’s actions in Ukraine in 2015 where Kiev’s forces was similarly
surrounded and destroyed.

Usually such pincer movements require thorough reconnaissance to
determine where best to surround the enemy. Furthermore, air support and
air-defense systems would be necessary to ward off American and Saudi
responses. In addition to all this, troops and their equipment are
needed together with the necessary training for such assaults that
require coordination as well as quick and effective execution of orders.
All these requirements were met as a result of the excellent preparation
and knowledge of the terrain by the Yemeni army and the Houthis.

If the attack on Saudi oil facilities had such an impact, then the even
more dramatic attack of this last Saturday will have forced Mohammed bin
Salman and his American allies to face a very harsh reality. Saudi
Arabia, it will now need to be recognized, does not have the capacity to
defend its borders from Yemen, leaving the Houthis and the Yemeni army
free to enter Saudi territory at will while showing little regard for
the opinion and feelings of the Saudis and Americans.

This is a triple checkmate for the Houthis against Riyadh.

Firstly, they showed that they had enough local support within Saudi
Arabia to have ready internal saboteurs in the event of an all-out war
with Iran or Yemen.

Then they showed they have the capacity to cripple Saudi Arabia’s
oil production.

Ultimately, Yemen’s conventional forces could redraw the boundaries
between Saudi Arabia and Yemen in the latter’s favor should Yemeni
leaders decide to invade and occupy a strip of Saudi territory to secure
a buffer zone, given that Saudi forces have been violating Yemen’s
sovereignty and massacring civilians willy nilly for the last five
years.

It bears reflecting on the significance of these events. The
third-biggest arms spender in the world is incapable of defeating the
poorest Arab country in the world. It is, moreover, incapable of
protecting its national interest and borders from this impoverished Arab
country. The Houthis are showing to the world what a poor but organized
and motivated armed force can do using asymmetrical methods to bring one
of the best-equipped militaries in the world to its knees. This conflict
will be studied all over the world as an example of how a new means of
warfare is possible when technological and cyber capabilities are
democratized and available to those who know how to use them
appropriately, as the Houthis have shown with their use of drones and
electronic warfare.

With the Houthis enjoying a high level of leverage, through a
combination of missile capabilities, the holding of many prisoners of
war, and saboteurs spread throughout Saudi Arabia (apropos, a strange
fire occurred in Jeddah on Sunday at the Al-Haramain railway station),
it may be time for Riyadh to accept the tragic consequences of this
useless war and sit down at the negotiating table with Ansarullah.

Washington and Tel Aviv will try in every way to prevent such
negotiations. But if Mohammed bin Salman and his family wish to save
their kingdom, it is better to start talking to the Houthis immediately.
Otherwise it is only a matter of time before another attack by
Ansarullah leads to the complete collapse and ruin of the House of Saud
and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...e-saudi-arabia

[T[_6_]]

The problem that he is not pointing out here is that
the Saudi army is deliberately manned by incompetents
such that the royal family feels safe from a military
coup. Anyone that stands out and/or takes initiative
it dealt with post hast. Military coups are how most
leaders in that part of the world rose to power. It
is a wonder they can drive their tanks in a straight
line or lace their shoes up properly.