🇸🇦🇾🇪 The Houthis may be looking beyond Yemen and toward Saudi territory
I spoke with Pepe Escobar about the escalating war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, and he raised a possibility I hadn't seriously considered.
What if the Houthis are no longer thinking exclusively about Yemen?
Pepe pointed to a recent statement by Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree denying that his forces had attacked Saudi territory.
That might sound ordinary, except Pepe believes there's a deliberate distinction being made.
The Houthis have reportedly targeted Najran, a Saudi border province with historical ties to Yemen.
Pepe suspects the denial reflects something much bigger: the Houthis may increasingly regard Najran, along with other southern Saudi provinces, as territory they have a right to reclaim.
That's a significant interpretation, although the statement alone doesn't establish any territorial plan.
We also discussed Saudi Arabia's attempts to bring Turkey and Pakistan into the conflict.
Pepe believes neither government wants a direct war with the Houthis, despite their security commitments to Riyadh.
And he sees the fighting in Yemen as inseparable from the confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
What concerns me is how the terms of this conflict could change.
Saudi Arabia may be looking for a ceasefire that restores the previous balance.
But if the Houthis believe they're gaining the upper hand, they could start demanding considerably more than an end to the bombing.
A war Saudi Arabia hoped to contain inside Yemen could become a dispute over Saudi Arabia's own borders.
@RealPepeEscobar
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