Another Yemeni attack on Saudi Arabia… A message or an arrangement to strike the smaller ally?

After years of calm, Yemeni attacks on Saudi Arabia have returned to the forefront, amid several regional and international developments. What are the dimensions of the latest step, and was it a message or a Saudi plan to strike the smaller ally from Yemen?

Exclusive – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

According to the spokesman for the Saudi forces, Turki Al-Maliki, air defenses were activated in the skies of the city of Al-Kharj, located more than a thousand kilometers from Yemen, for the first time in years. The reason, according to Al-Maliki, was due to detecting the launch of a new missile from Yemen.

Although Saudi Arabia tried to contain the latest development, on one hand by claiming the Yemeni missile deviated, a missile that has never been recorded as missing its target by even a few meters, and on the other hand by claiming it was heading towards another regional country, apparently referring to the UAE, the timing of the event carries several dimensions.

Although Sana’a did not comment on the event, its timing carried, according to experts, several dimensions, most notably what was raised in discussions on social media, led by activists affiliated with the Ansar Allah movement “Houthis” who considered the missile a distinctly Yemeni message to Saudi Arabia, especially in light of the tension due to Saudi Arabia’s attempts to procrastinate in achieving peace entitlements. According to them, this coincided with the absence of the Sana’a delegation from the Jordanian negotiations launched by the UN envoy at the level of military committees earlier on Sunday. More importantly, it relates to the timing of the missile launch coinciding with the announcement of the closure of Bab Al-Mandeb.

This narrative seems the most plausible given the intensive recent diplomatic and military movement on the Yemen file, most notably talk of discussions about oil exports and American rejection of any agreement with Sana’a.

Away from this interpretation, another narrative emerged related to the clause concerning targeting a regional country, which was seen as a Saudi hint towards the UAE, the smaller ally in the war on Yemen. Comments were not limited to circulating the Saudi information, regardless of its credibility, but some tweeters went so far as to hint that it might be part of Saudi plans to launch strikes in the Emirati depth from areas under its control in Yemen under the pretext of the “Houthis.”

Whatever the motives for the latest launch, what remains certain so far is that Saudi Arabia is in a predicament in light of the economic suffocation Yemen is experiencing, contributed to by the decision of the coalition government in Aden to raise customs tariffs, which may also cast a shadow on the situation in the country, north and south.