[ad_1]
The Saudi leadership, especially the country’s most powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, is going through uncomfortable times. The prince’s popularity in Saudi Arabia remains intact, but he has not yet been able to allay international suspicions about his alleged involvement in the 2016 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khasogir.
Meanwhile, as the new US administration prepares to take over the White House, newly elected President Joe Biden has made it clear that he will take a tougher line on some Saudi issues than his predecessor. What are these issues and why are they important to those in power in the United States and Saudi Arabia?
The war in Yemen
This war is a disaster for almost all parties to the conflict, especially for the poor and malnourished population of Yemen. The war was started by the Houthis when they launched an operation in the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014 to overthrow the legitimate government. The Houthis are a tribal group in the mountainous region of northern Yemen and represent less than 15% of the country’s population.
When MBS was Saudi Defense Minister in March 2015, he secretly formed an alliance with several Arab states to launch massive airstrikes in Yemen. They expected the Houthis to surrender in a few months to the attack. But the Saudi-led coalition has been unable to evacuate the Houthis from the populated western part of Sanaa and Yemen, despite thousands of deaths and displacement in nearly six years of fighting. Both parties have committed war crimes in these six years.
The Houthis, in cooperation with Iran, have been increasingly launching precision-guided missiles and explosive drones aimed at Saudi Arabia. Their missiles have even reached Jeddah and have been able to reach oil facilities.
The fighting in Yemen has caused the greatest disaster for Yemen’s poor and malnourished population. A poor displaced Yemeni family takes refuge in a cave on the western outskirts of Yemen. In terms of money, the stalemate has become costly for the Saudis and many peace plans have collapsed. Many Yemenis have lost their lives in the war in Yemen, but the Saudis have had to pay a heavy price for this bloodshed, in addition to facing enormous criticism outside the country.
The Saudis want a way out of this stalemate that at least protects their faces. But the Saudis have already said they will “stop building a stronghold of Iran on its southern border.” They have insisted that they will never accept that Iranian-backed armed militias take power in Yemen. But the days when the Saudis continued the war are ending.
At the end of his term in 2016, Barack Obama significantly reduced US aid to Saudi Arabia. But after Donald Trump came to power, he reversed that and the United States gave Riyadh all the intelligence and military equipment it wanted. Now, the Biden administration has indicated that this assistance may be suspended. Either way, the pressure is mounting now to end this war.
Captive women
This is a major setback for the Saudi leadership’s campaign to improve its international image. Thirteen female Saudi activists have been jailed. Some of them have been accused of torturing others. Their crime is effectively demanding the right of women to drive and ending the ‘extreme injustice’ of being under male guardianship. Many of them, including the best-known prisoner Luzain al-Hathloul, were arrested in 2016, just before the lifting of the ban on driving for women.
Saudi officials still allege that Ms Hathloul was found guilty of espionage and “received money from a foreign power,” but Saudi authorities have not been able to provide evidence.
Meanwhile, her friends say she went abroad to attend a human rights conference and applied for a job at the United Nations. According to her family, she was beaten while in custody, received electric shocks and threatened to rape her, and the last time her family visited her in prison, she was shaking violently, unable to control herself.
Like the war in Yemen, the Saudi leadership has dug its own grave and is now looking for a way out. These women have been detained for a long time without evidence. No case will oppose them in the courts of any country that has a neutral judiciary. As a result, the only way for the Saudis to get out of this murky situation is for them to be “generous and tolerant.” However, the new Biden administration is expected to raise the issue with the Saudis.
Boycott of Qatar
Apparently, this problem appears to have been resolved behind the scenes thanks to long-standing Kuwaiti mediation. But deep down, the roots of this problem run much deeper. Within days of President Trump’s visit to Riyadh in 2016, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt joined forces to launch a devastating boycott against their Gulf neighbor Qatar.
Their argument was that the actions of groups that Qatar supports Islamists fall into the category of terrorism, and this is unacceptable. The UAE has released documents relating to suspected terrorists living in Qatar, but Qatar has denied any involvement in supporting terrorism and has refused to comply with the four-nation alliance’s demand to control its established television channel and known Al Jazeera.
Like the Houthis in Yemen, the Saudis had a false expectation that the Qataris would give in to pressure and submit to their will. They did not take it. This is because Qatar has enormous resources. Qatar’s coastal oil production is huge and Qatar’s investment in the UK economy alone is £ 40bn (£ 53bn). In addition, they have the support of Turkey and Iran.
What stands out is that a huge dividing line has been created in the Middle East in recent years. On one side are three conservative Sunni Persian Gulf monarchies: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with their ally Egypt. On the other side, there are Qatar, Turkey and the politically Islamic movements they support, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas group in Gaza. And those interim movement groups don’t like the four-nation alliance because they see it as a threat to their very existence. But there is no doubt that the policy of boycotting Qatar for three and a half years has hurt both sides economically and politically.
Furthermore, what has come to the fore is that the ideology of Arab solidarity in the Gulf region is meaningless. And it comes at a time when concerns about Iran’s nuclear and missile programs among Gulf Arab leaders are mounting.
Jared Kushner has traveled to the Gulf region as President Trump’s envoy to push for a deal. The Biden administration will undoubtedly want a solution to this problem. Another reason is that Al-Udaid in Qatar has the largest Pentagon military base abroad. But the most important thing is the implementation of the solution that can be solved through mediation.
Qatar may take many years to forgive its neighbors. On the other hand, it may take many years for these four countries to regain trust in Qatar.
Source: BBC Bangla.
[ad_2]
