Saudi Arabia wary of testing Mecca pact as Yemen war returns, analyst says

Sultan Barakat, a senior professor in public policy at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, told Al Jazeera that Yemen has pretty much returned to civil war as fighting has intensified in the past week, following years of a stalemate.

With the Saudi-backed internationally-recognised Yemeni government now recording some gains against the Houthis, Barakat said it would be hard to envision a break in the fighting.

But while Saudi Arabia has taken a “more aggressive posture” against the Houthis, Barakat said the kingdom is still wary of being too deeply involved.

“It’s not in their interest to get involved in a prolonged conflict in Yemen,” he said. “They have other priorities economically, regionally, in terms of security alliances, etc. So they don’t want to waste their assets in this particular moment.”

Saudi Arabia might also be reluctant to test its new security pact with Pakistan and Turkiye, Barakat added, so as not to expose its limitations.

Riyadh also has other defence priorities as regards Iran and Israel, he noted.

However, if the Houthis were to take the strategic city of Taiz, a gateway to the Aden base of the Saudi-backed coalition forces, then Riyadh might react more forcefully, Barakat concluded.

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