Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has asked the White House to lift Obama-era restrictions on U.S. military support for Persian Gulf states engaged in a protracted civil war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to senior Trump administration officials.
….Approval of the request would mark a significant policy shift. U.S. military activity in Yemen until now has been confined mainly to counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda’s affiliate there….It would also be a clear signal of the administration’s intention to move more aggressively against Iran. The Trump White House, in far stronger terms than its predecessor, has echoed Saudi and Emirati charges that Iran is training, arming and directing the Shiite Houthis in a proxy war to increase its regional clout against the Gulf’s Sunni monarchies.
The Yemen civil war is one of the dirtiest little wars around. It’s yet another proxy Sunni-Shia conflict, and it’s not helped by the fact that the Saudi Arabians are fairly incompetent at prosecuting it. We’re not going to be willing to endlessly fund an incompetent war, so if we get more heavily involved there’s no telling where it ends. I hope somebody is asking James Mattis exactly what he thinks the long-term game plan is here.
