Saudi Press Agency SPA said the Scud was intercepted by two Patriot missile near the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mesheit. The Scud was fired from Saada, the Huthi stronghold in northern Yemen.
Yemen’s official news agency Saba said that the Scud was fired at prince Khaled Air Base in Khamis Mesheit and hit its target.
Saudi authorities also said they had foiled a ground attack by elite Yemeni troops loyal to former president Saleh, a Huthi ally, in the southern border region of Jizan. Four Saudi military personnel were killed during the fighting.
File photo: Scud missile
Unlikely that they shot a Scud down. It most likely missed and hit the desert which is the same as being shot down.....
ReplyDeleteWhy is it unlikely? Saudis can't operate a Patriot battery?
DeleteCorrect. Saudis cannot operate a Patriot battery...Take it from a former enlisted man in the U.S Army who was involved with schooling them.
DeleteThey might surprise you now!
DeleteLOL! I doubt it, Mr.Uskowi...It's most likely "foreign contractors" supervising the show. ;)
DeleteNow, if we were talking about another Arab country, like Egypt...I'd be in full agreement with you.
Oh, that's possible, with Saudis in charge; still part of Saudi military machine. In Iraq and Syria, the Iranian military machine employs foreign Shia militias to do the actual fighting, but clearly the Quds Force is in charge.
DeleteSorry, I misunderstood your initial comment that Saudis could not operate a patriot battery. Saudis can, probably with foreign operators. Meaning the U.S. need not be necessarily involved.
There is evidence supporting KSA claim of repelling specific cross-border raid. However there is also video evidence of a successful raid on a border position, as well. Interesting, penetration of raid is said to be 60 km inside KSA territory.
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting is the fact that months into KSA air campaign, Yemeni forces are able to launch a tactical ballistic missile strike.
So they were unable, during those past months, to spot and destroy so large and easily visible missiles ?
ReplyDeleteMaybe a killing of innocent Yemeni people is easier for them to do that...
It doesn't make a difference whether the Patriot battery was being operated by a Saudi crew or if it was being supervised by U.S personnel. The result (for Ansarullah) is pretty much the same.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this wasn't a determined missile strike by Ansarullah against Saudi Arabia, since it comes only a day after Ansarullah had agreed to go to Geneva. It was a political message to the world that Yemen (Ansarullah) is still capable of launching ballistic missiles against Saudi targets despite media claims by the latter that it had destroyed all Scud missiles in Yemen during operation Decisive Storm. They're probably trying to say that if talks at Geneva fail and air strikes continue, they would take the war with the Saudis to the next level.
If they actually wanted to cause damage/panic they would have launched multiple missiles on multiple targets because 1 - they know the Patriot can handle one single Scud missile and 2 - because they (the Saudis, or U.S personnel in Saudi if you like) have managed to intercept Scud missiles before (from Iraq).
The GCC cannot garantuee the destruction of every single ballistic missile in Yemen. Some may have been dispersed in singles in remote locations, in the hopes that they remain undetected and thus escape destruction. Even the allied coalition of 1991 were unable to find and knock out all of our ballistic missiles. This doesn't equate as a failure on the part of the GCC, since they have largely, through that air campaign, succeeded in reducing the Houthi's ability to hit back with ballistic missiles en masse campaign. For all we know the number of intact ballistic missiles in Houthi hands may be in the single digits. A few ballistic missile launches by the Houthis against the GCC have probably been anticipated however the firings will be so few and erratic that they can easily be managed through the use of the Patriot system. It's all in the calculus.
Deletesilly comment. the Saudi army may be well-armed but there aren't all that many Saudis and an of 75,000 isn't very large.
ReplyDeleteTurkey, Israel and even Iran have stronger armies