Saudi Arabia turns to the Gulf states to restore a state of dead air security

Saudi Arabia has called on the region to rehabilitate damaged Patriot missile launchers in the US during the Yemeni insurgency.

A U.S. official has said the Biden government is helping to launch missiles in the Gulf as he worries that Riyadh Patriot shares could end in “months” considering how Houthi rebels are attacking the empire. The US needs to transfer green to interceptors.

“It’s an urgent problem,” the official told the Financial Times. “There are other places in the Gulf that can be taken over, and we are trying to take action. It could be a quick fix. [to US arms sales]. ”

Two people who were briefed on the talks between Saudi Arabia and its neighbors confirmed that Riyadh had requested this. “There is a lack of an interceptor. Saudi Arabia has asked its friends to borrow money, but not many are in debt,” said one of the protesters.

A second person said that Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman raised the issue at a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh in December and that the government was in direct contact with the region.

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.

Experts say it could be short-lived to help cover the time it takes for the empire to gain US approval to sell arms. Saudi Arabia has many sources of its weapons in the US but its ability to acquire arms Washington has been hard and bipartisan to denounce the nature of its war in Yemen, as well as concerns about human rights abuses under the leadership of Prince Mohammed.

A senior official said Washington was “working with the Saudis and other allies to ensure there is no difference”.

A third U.S. official said Houthi terrorists, allied with Iran and leading northern Yemen, increased their threats to the monarchy last year, triggering 375 terrorist attacks against Saudi Arabia, most of them. gas stations, airports and cities.

“Responding to these threats using such weapons means that they will burn faster than expected,” the official said. “This is something we have to deal with and the answer is not only to add, but the answer is the solution to the crisis in Yemen.”

Saudi defenses carry many projectiles. But 59 civilians have been killed since Riyadh launched its offensive against the Houthis seven years ago, according to Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, a Saudi security spokesman.

He said the empire loves its “strong and strong alliance with the United States”. “Our military alliance continues and we will continue to work together with our US counterparts in the face of the threat of missiles, rockets, and UAVs. [ drones], ”He said.

US President Joe Biden he stopped selling weapons to Saudi Arabia as soon as he entered the White House and concluded a Saudi-led coalition operation against the Houthis.

He promised to re-examine relations with Riyadh and criticized the regime the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 and progressive Saudi allies and Democrats are refusing to support the regime.

Last year, Washington repatriated some Patriot systems from Saudi Arabia. Officials in Biden have stated their commitment to protect the empire, and the state department has recently approved the sale of 280 aircraft weapons. In December, the Senate rejected a double bid to block the $ 680m deal.

A U.S. government official has said 280 air-to-air weapons could be “a major help”. But he said the weapons would take time to reach the empire, adding that Riyadh needed Patriot allies “in addition to these to help them defeat them”.

“This town is a threat to the Saudis,” he said. “Even saying that we are committed to defending the Saudis is a serious word in this area.”

Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense, told a conference in the Middle East in November that Washington was “increasingly promoting Saudi Arabia’s defense system”.

Saudi Arabia has been at loggerheads with the Houthis since leading an Arab League that was involved in the Yemeni civil war in 2015 after the terrorists overthrew the Yemeni government and took over Sana’a, the capital.

Riyadh’s intervention was supported by the US and the UK, but its military actions criticized many and forced governments to ban arms sales to the empire as thousands of Yemeni civilians were killed in airstrikes, including hundreds of children.

Seth G Jones, head of the global security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Washington was threatening Houthi in Saudi Arabia, and worried that if the US did not cooperate with the regime, Riyadh would turn. in China. Many Democrats are retreating against those who are advancing, saying “we must protect them. [ Saudi Arabia] from the enemy and causing the Chinese to invade, ”he said.