Saudi military unable to occupy Yemen: Academic
Press TV has conducted an interview with Lawrence Davidson, professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s ongoing military aggression against Yemen.
What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Saudi Arabia says the incursion is basically a limited maneuver. Do you see it happening that way?
Davidson: I think that was their intent to stop the shelling of their southern towns and military bases, but I do not see how this can be temporary because if they pull out for instance, then the forces that are shelling Saudi Arabia will just come back and re-occupy those areas.
So it has got to be more than temporary. It has got to be that they are going to be stuck there and then...I would suspect the shelling that went into southern Saudi Arabia will start hitting them in their posts in northern Yemen. So I mean essentially what it is, is that the Saudis are getting pulled deeper and deeper into Yemen and unless they can get a surrogate army in there from the [Persian] Gulf emirates or something like that. They are going to have to be pulled in deeper and deeper and there is no winning this. I mean it is kind of a Vietnam for them. There is no way that they can militarily occupy and control that country. So this is not just a maneuver. This is the beginning of getting sucked in.
Press TV: So how do you see the Ansarullah movement and the Yemeni forces responding to this because so far Saudi Arabia has tried to ensure that the attacks have been air raids basically where retaliation has been very minimal?
Davidson: Right. I do not think they have the capacity to dislodge the Saudis, but I do think they have the capacity to harass them and I think that what is going to happen is [that] over time they are going to get some sort of policy together, or strategy, and they will start harassing the Saudi troops in the north but it is just ongoing. I do not think either side can win this.
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