Kingdom’s right action at the appropriate time

The Kingdom has been renowned for its patience, for its behind-the-scenes diplomacy. Time and again Saudi diplomats have gone the extra mile in a search for peaceful resolutions. The most notable example of this dogged diplomacy has been the Palestinian peace plan, based on parameters drawn up here in the Kingdom.
But there comes a time when it must be accepted that talks have failed; that there is no more to be said. At that point, the gentle persuasion of the negotiating table must sometimes be replaced by an iron fist.
This is what Saudi Arabia is doing in war-torn Yemen at the head of an alliance of 10 Arab countries. The Kingdom and its allies have dedicated themselves to restoring peace and stability to Yemen. The aim of the current powerful military intervention is to restore the legitimate government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. He has been driven from his capital, Sanaa, by Houthi rebels. Now the insurgents are moving on Aden where Hadi has rallied his troops and relocated his administration.
The military operation by Saudi and allied forces has only occurred after the failure of extensive efforts to get the Houthis to talk with the Hadi government about their grievances. Both the Kingdom and the Qataris have been urging negotiations. When the last offer of dialogue, to be hosted in Riyadh, was rejected out of hand, there were no further peaceable options.
The air campaign that has been unleashed against the rebels has already had a devastating effect. Some Houthi leaders witnessing the awesome destruction caused by precision bombing must be asking themselves what they have got themselves into. But the guilt is far from exclusively theirs. Their rebellion has been fostered and encouraged by Iran. It is a proxy conflict alarmingly reminiscent of the old Cold War. Houthis may imagine they are fighting for their own aspirations. The reality is that they are dying simply to satisfy the devious political strategy of Tehran.
Iran’s rulers have wrecked their country’s economy through a mixture of incompetence and miscalculation. Their corrupt and illiterate interference in the economy has steadily driven it toward ruin. Iran's wrong policies that led to the imposition of international sanctions has made a bad situation worse. Ordinary Iranians are fed up. Many would like to chase the hardline mullahs out of power. And the Iranian leadership is afraid. The classic recourse of all rogue governments facing trouble at home is to stoke up trouble abroad.
In Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and now Yemen, Iran has done just that. The Iranians have also encouraged unrest in Bahrain and Eastern Province.
A line had to be drawn in the sand and the Kingdom has done it. The Iranians would do well not to cross it. Tehran can no longer continue to meddle in the affairs of its neighbors and expect to escape the consequences.
The Iranian leadership will of course seek to play the nationalist card. Iran is threatened, it will whine; therefore all loyal Iranians should step forward to defend their country.
But of course no one in the Arab world is threatening Iran. Indeed Gulf Cooperation Council countries look eagerly to the day when a civilized Iran can play its proper economic role in one of world’s most exciting and prosperous regions.
None of this will however be of any comfort to the Houthi rebels who are finding themselves confronted by devastating state-of-the-art weapons systems. They probably know little of Iran’s economic problems and almost certainly care even less. They have been armed, equipped and trained by Iran, which has also assured them that they have every chance of seizing the Yemeni state.
This alluring lie is easily exposed. A Yemen from which the legitimate government had been obliged to withdraw would be a failed state. As such it would be isolated, economically, geographically and politically. Saudi naval patrols are already enforcing a coastal blockade. The country’s land borders are now heavily patrolled. For the Houthis, as for every other Yemeni locked into an isolated Yemen, life will become an unsustainable disaster.
This will however not matter to the manipulators in Tehran. They care nothing for the interests of the Houthis. What matters to them is the regional disruption and instability that a divided Yemen can cause. They value the Houthi insurgency purely for the chance to give another vigorous stir to the Middle East pot of chaos.
The robust response being led by the Kingdom ought to demonstrate to the Iranian leadership that it has finally done what Tehran deserved.