Neutralizing a potential threat

ON Wednesday night, a military spokesman in Riyadh announced the end of the first phase of the operation “Decisive Storm.” The fighter jets taking part in the airstrikes had been racing against time to destroy Houthi rebels’ offensive and defensive capabilities including their arms depots and the ballistic missiles such as the Scud B in the rebels’ possession. The Houthis could have used these missiles to launch attacks on Saudi Arabia’s southern cities of Jazan, Abha and Najran. It was also feared that the Houthi arsenal stockpiled Scud- D, which posed a threat to cities like Jeddah if fired from Sanaa.

The airstrikes stopped after removing the main threat, the most menacing of which was the ballistic missiles as mentioned in the official statement. The airstrikes could resume if the military is forced to chase armed groups or in support of the resistance groups.

Iran has, no doubt, repeated its experiment in South Lebanon, by creating an armed group threatening the south of the Kingdom constantly. The Houthi militia called “Ansar Allah” is a clone of the Hezbollah in Lebanon and aims to take control of Yemen and threaten its northern neighbor.

When they seized control of the capital of Yemen, the Ansar Allah took hold of the missile system. That is how the Houthi Ansar Allah became a threat to the Kingdom, going beyond a mere internal issue of Yemen.

With the destruction of the enemy command and control, heavy weaponry and the air force, their military facilities do not offer any more targets for the Decisive Storm.

UN Security Council’s recent resolution banning arms supply to the rebels and an international naval blockade on the Yemeni coast of 1,900 km to prevent Iranian supply of arms to the Houthis is another factor. Another important development is US President Barack Obama’s warning to the Iranians against any attempt to provide support for the rebels in Yemen, besides the US Navy’s inspection of ships suspected of carrying weapons from Iran to Yemen.

Now the field is clear for two major activities — first supporting the Yemeni pro- government resistance movement to liberate the areas occupied by the Houthis and dominated by Saleh’s forces, and the second is to open the door for a peaceful solution of the political issue.

In my view, exclusion of the deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from the new political plans, the political reconciliation envisaged by a Gulf initiative, which the Houthis and Saleh approved initially and then made a turn around, will be possible.

The objective of the use of force is not the elimination of opponents but pushing them toward reconciliation.

Saudi Arabia has shown wisdom and maturity in dealing with the Yemeni crisis with an early cessation of the airstrikes and the refusal to get involved in a ground war, besides supporting the forces of the legitimate government and popular resistance in order to give the political solution a chance.