Islam Times - Saudis have no political independence, await US order to stop Yemen war

Islam Times - A political analyst believes Saudi Arabia does not have the necessary political independence to decide whether to reciprocate a bid by Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah to stop its counter-attacks and give peace efforts a new chance, saying the Riyadh regime is “under the thumb of the US” and only does Washington’s bidding in the war it leads against Yemen.

William Spring said Ansarullah’s recent expression of readiness for a ceasefire comes at a time when Riyadh is suffering a “diplomatic isolation” on the world stage over the brutal murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which is blamed on the highest ranks of authorities in the kingdom.

The Houth movement, which has been defending the nation against the Saudi Arabian-led war, said Monday that it was halting its counterstrikes as a goodwill measure to speed up peace efforts. It voiced readiness to institute a ceasefire if the Saudi regime is prepared to do the same.

Asked about whether Riyadh would do the same thing as the Houthis, Spring said Riyadh’s rulers have “no policy” in their campaign against Yemen and remain obedient to the US in that regard. The Saudis, he added, know nothing but torturing or killing dissidents at home and abroad.

They “would do what the Americans tell them. They have never been in any way capable of making their own decisions anyway. If the Americans say stop the war in Yemen, the Saudis will stop the war in Yemen,” he said. “The Saudis are totally under the thumb of the United States of America.”

The commentator, however, highlighted the global political pressure on the US to review its support for the Saudi military campaign following Khashoggi’s murder, which is widely believed to have been ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the architect of the bloody Yemen war.

Khashoggi’s assassination, he added, has dealt a big blow to the Saudi image throughout the world, and that the consequences of such a heinous act may push American officials to review their attitude toward the Riyadh regime and their coordination in the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen.

“The Khashoggi affair...was like a trigger to make people realize just how abhorrent, how criminal, how evil the Saudi regime is, which is backed by Donald Trump. Now Donald Trump now sees the need to disentangle himself from the Saudi alliance.”