The American diplomat Timothy Lenderking, whom President Joe Biden appointed a month ago as special envoy for Yemen, with the mission of renewing the dialogue between the factions of this country in civil war for six years, was able to measure these last days the complexity of the task which awaits him.
His appointment and the strong measures that accompanied it, such as the end of American support for the Saudi bombings or the withdrawal of the Houthi militia from the list of terrorist organizations, had no impact on the belligerents. Although they attest to the willingness of the United States to adopt a more balanced position, after the virtual carte blanche offered to Riyadh under the Obama and Trump presidencies, these announcements were followed by an intensification of hostilities.
The escalation is especially visible on the side of the Houthis, the pro-Iranian armed group from the northern mountains, which, by dislodging President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi from Sanaa, the capital, in February 2015, precipitated Riyadh’s intervention. . Its launches of drones and missiles against the kingdom, in response to the Saudi air force strikes which have claimed many civilian lives, have drastically increased in recent weeks.
Although asymmetric, in that they are usually intercepted, these shots maintain a climate of increasing tension in the realm, because their range, their precision and the importance of the sites targeted tend to increase. During the single day of Sunday, March 7, for example, the Saudi army recorded twelve hits from drones and two from ballistic missiles, all destroyed before they reached their target. “It’s a form of psychological harassment, believes a Western expert who closely follows the conflict. The Houthis are putting pressure on the Saudis by showing them that whatever they do, their strike capacity continues to improve. “
Largest wave of attacks since 2019
Among the March 7 targets was the Ras Tanura oil tank farm on the kingdom’s eastern coast, one of the largest oil ports in the world. According to the Saudi authorities, this site was targeted by a maritime drone – an unmanned vessel, loaded with explosives, whose destination is fixed by GPS coordinates. Debris from a missile hit in flight simultaneously fell on a residential complex in Dharhan, belonging to the Saudi oil giant Aramco, 80 km further south. The Houthi movement also claimed to have fired at military bases in Dammam in the east, as well as in Jizan and Asir province in the west.
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