Middle East Naval Blockade

The next flash point in the Middle East is starting to heat up. When Saudi Arabia gets to the point they are willing to use military power outside of their own country, the situation must be a lot worse than the daily news suggests. See this YouTube video for a pretty good update on the situation in Yemen.

This is the latest significant development.

Saudi Arabia has imposed a naval blockade along the Red Sea coast of northern Yemen in an attempt to cut off supplies to Houthi fighters along its border with Yemen.

The kingdom's warships were ordered on Tuesday to search any ship suspected of carrying weapons or fighters near the Yemeni coast, a government adviser said, as Riyadh vowed to continue its offensive against the rebels until they pull back from the border area.

Despite a warning by Iran to keep out of Yemen's affairs, Prince Khaled bin Sultan, the Saudi deputy defence minister, pledged to keep up the military offensive against the Houthis on Tuesday, as he visited Saudi troops in the kingdom's southwest Jizan province.

This could be the beginning of the active, open use of military force in the political standoff between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has been simmering for years. I also wonder if this will have any effect on the human smuggling that takes place between Somalia and Yemen?

The continued growth of Islamic militant movements in the Horn of Africa region cannot be ignored in the Afghanistan calculations. It does the US and allies no good to throw resources into Afghanistan if the violence that threatens global economic instability is spilling out into one of the busiest economic highways in the world (Gulf of Aden).

How does the active engagement of Saudi military forces in the south influence the calculations of Israel in dealing with Iran? Also, keep an eye on the Saudi Air Force, the best trained of the Saudi military forces. The level of their engagement is a measuring stick for how serious the situation is from the Saudi Arabian perspective.