Yemen strike on Saudi

[JFZ90]

Have the Yemen really just launched what is reported as an R-27 derivative type missile at Riyadh airport?

Where is this technology coming from?

[ORAC]

Is that a rhetorical question? :hmm::hmm:

[JFZ90]

Well there are various options - China, Iran, Russia, North Korea ...

Who will the Saudis have a barny at (apart from Yemen) if these actually start to hit Riyadh?

Is the source known? I would have thought so.

[ORAC]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-iran/exclusive-iran-steps-up-weapons-supply-to-yemens-houthis-via-oman-officials-idUSKCN12K0CX

[wiggy]

This campaign seems to have been going on for a while, but outside the more specialist/niche Press it doesn't seem to have been widely reported:

"Yemeni rebels enhance ballistic missile campaign"

http://www.janes.com/images/assets/330/72330/Yemeni_rebels_enhance_ballistic_missile_campaign.pdf

[F-16GUY]

So when Saudi hits Yemen and Yemen strikes back, the score is.....

.....2 - 0 in our favor :}

[JFZ90]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-iran/exclusive-iran-steps-up-weapons-supply-to-yemens-houthis-via-oman-officials-idUSKCN12K0CX

Trump ha sure just said it's Iran too.

Are these from mobile launchers? The technology / fuel etc. looks quite complicated.

[A_Van]

Thanks, Wiggy.


The Jane's report provides a very detailed picture, indeed.

[ORAC]

Alert 5 » U.N. says Yemen missiles fired at Saudi have ?common origin? - Military Aviation News (http://alert5.com/2017/12/10/u-n-says-yemen-missiles-fired-at-saudi-have-common-origin/)

A group of United Nations experts have examined the wreckage of missiles fired at Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi forces.

The preliminary conclusion was that the missiles appear to have a “common origin.” But, the officials are not sure if the source is Iran. However, the components examined “bore the castings of a logo similar to that of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Grou (http://www.iranwatch.org/iranian-entities/shahid-bagheri-industrial-group)p.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote this in the fourth biannual report on the implementation of U.N. sanctions and restrictions on Iran.

Guterres added that the experts are still analyzing the information collected and will report back to the Security Council.

[Heathrow Harry]

The Saudis have stuck their feet into the Yemeni swamp (similar to Afghanistan or Vietnam)

They've killed over 12000 Yemenis in air strikes and no one is sure why

What goes around................

the Young Prince in Riyadh is finding out the world is a tougher place than he thought

[Basil]

The Saudis have stuck their feet into the Yemeni swamp (similar to Afghanistan or Vietnam)

They've killed over 12000 Yemenis in air strikes and no one is sure why

What goes around................

the Young Prince in Riyadh is finding out the world is a tougher place than he thought
Having gone through the ME for most of my life, lived there for four years . . . . oh Gawd/Allah . . . . the only thing they've learned from the West/Russia appears to be proxy wars.

[Heathrow Harry]

It all looks quite seductive when you're in an air conditioned office looking at the Generals saying what you can do with all that expensive kit...

why no-one doesn't open a history book before deciding is beyond me - I mean look at us - FOUR Afghan Wars and everyone somewhere between a total disaster and a simple waste of time, effort and lives

[FantomZorbin]

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". George Santayana philosopher

[beardy]

“History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes"
Probably Mark Twain, the first time.

[DaveUnwin]

Probably Edmund Burke, 100 years before Mark Twain.

[beardy]

I didn't know that, does that mean I am destined to repeat it or just let George Santayana do it for me? Whilst Happy George was content to acknowledge he wasn't the first to use this, or a similar version of this, line and he is the one in print, I don't know where either Mark or Edmund actually said it or printed it, there are just repetitions throughout time.

[unmanned_droid]

Readers moght find this article of interest...US shows wreckage of Iranian made weapons used against Saudi Arabia.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/dod-shows-components-proving-iran-provided-missiles-fired-at-saudi-arabia/

[ORAC]

Saudis shoot down seven missiles fired on cities by Yemen's Houthi rebels (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/26/saudis-shoot-down-seven-missiles-fired-on-cities-by-yemens-houthi-rebels)

Saudi air defences have shot down seven ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi militia as the kingdom’s three-year military campaign against the rebel group threatened to escalate.

Saudi forces destroyed three missiles over north-eastern Riyadh shortly before midnight on Sunday, with debris killing a man in what was the first death in the capital during the conflict. Other missiles were fired at the southern cities of Najran, Jizan and Khamis Mushait, the coalition said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

Debris from the missiles fell on a home in Riyadh, killing an Egyptian resident and wounding two other Egyptians, said coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki, according to SPA. Reuters reporters in Riyadh heard several booms and saw smoke in the air. Another witness said he saw a long stream of light followed by additional explosions....

https://mobile.twitter.com/arabnews/status/978052217050681345/video/1

The attack marked the third time in five months that missiles have flown over Riyadh, as the Houthis step up efforts to demonstrate they can reach the Saudi capital, and threatened to escalate a regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi-run SABA news agency reported the group’s missile force had targeted King Khalid international airport in Riyadh with a Burkan H2 missile. The group also fired other types of missiles at airports in Jizan, Najran and Abha, another southern Saudi city, according to the SABA report.......

Patriot missiles fail spectacularly during intercept of Yemeni ballistic missile (http://alert5.com/2018/03/26/patriot-missiles-fail-spectacularly-during-intercept-of-yemeni-ballistic-missile/)

Yemen’s Houthis faction fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and two Patriot missiles that were fired to intercept it failed spectacularly in mid-air. One exploded after launch while another went ballistic and hit the ground.

[glad rag]

https://theaviationist.com/2018/03/26/scary-videos-show-malfunctioning-saudi-patriot-missile-fired-to-intercept-houthi-ballistic-missile-hitting-capital-city-riyadh-instead/


A known issue with "The wrong type of snow"

[Navaleye]

Hopefully the reprisals against the Houthis will be severe.

[Heathrow Harry]

"while another went ballistic"

isn't that the point of the damn things.....................

[polax52]

"while another went ballistic"

isn't that the point of the damn things.....................


I think that starting with the BBC and finishing with you Harry, there is very little understanding of the position in which the Saudi's are in, fortunately the British and US governments are both backing the Saudi's.

The Saudi system is not democratic but the current system is based on the Bedouin Culture which is centuries old. The Kingdom is a dictatorship but a very benevolent dictatorship, in which the vast majority of Saudi's support the King and now Crown Prince MBS. There is a radically strange judicial system but the laws that we would consider unacceptable in the west are very rarely enforced, for example being Gay in Saudi Arabia simply goes on behind closed doors as "don't ask, don't tell".

Saudi Arabia is not expansionist. Iran is and there is a great deal of fear of being surrounded by forces allied with Tehran in Riyadh. Yemen would be a strategic catastrophe to Saudi Arabia if the Iran backed Houthi rebels take control. That would hand control of the entrance to the Red sea and the Suez canal to Iran. The Houthi rebels only represent a minority of Yemeni's and all of their power comes from Iran, this power allowed them to overthrow a government which was considered to be ligitimate by the UN.

Whilst the Saudi's do endeavor to avoid civilian casualties to the same degree that the British and Americans do, the Iranians clearly do not.

The Saudi's have allowed ships recently to deliver aid to Yemen. This humanitarian move has clearly backfired as those missiles delivered on Riyadh last night were probably dropped off recently amongst those aid shipments.

Israel and Saudi Arabia are currently de-facto allies.

This war fought by the Saudi's has far more ligitimacy than the second Gulf war or the Vietnam war. I'd argue that if Yemen was Oil rich then the west would have become significantly more involved.

[Lonewolf_50]

"while another went ballistic"

isn't that the point of the damn things.....................
No. Harry, it isn't. The missiles being fired at Saudi, that Patriot is trying to knock down, are ballistic missiles. The Patriot is a guided missile, designed to intercept ballistic missiles (if it's a PAC 3). Going ballistic is a malfunction if the real shooting war is going on.


@gladrag
That's why you don't just shoot one missile when you are intercepting a ballistic missile that is inbound. Are you disputing the seven interceptions? (Given that the spokesman was Saudi, I'd not be surprised at any cynicism regarding the source ...)


Saudi Arabia is not expansionist Oh, we have a naïve one, have we? Their efforts at spreading their influence and the spread of Islam is no secret. Follow the money.


Insofar as their not pursuing territorial expansion, yeah, you are technically correct.

[Octane]

The Saudis funded the construction of several large Mosques on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Bali is a Hindu island with a small Muslim minority....

[Cazalet33]

Israel and Saudi Arabia are currently de-facto allies.

Funny old world, innit.

[Brat]

Both view Iran as a major threat. Makes sense.

[ORAC]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend....