Saudi-led coalition declares end to Yemen campaign
Source: AFP
Riyadh (AFP) - A Saudi-led coalition declared an end Tuesday to its military campaign four weeks after launching air strikes against rebels in Yemen, saying their threat to Saudi Arabia and its neighbours had been removed.
The coalition has "ended Operation Decisive Storm based on a request by the Yemeni government and President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi," its spokesman, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri, told a press briefing in the Saudi capital.
However, he said the coalition would continue to impose a naval blockade on Yemen and target any movements by the Huthi Shiite rebel forces.
A coalition statement said that the next phase of operations was aimed at resuming the political process in Yemen, delivering aid, and "fighting terrorism" in the country, home to a deadly Al-Qaeda franchise.
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Four weeks of bombing is a lot of bombing. The US has the supplies to do so and the support elements (Ships, Trucks, Trains, etc) to get those supplies to where they can be loaded on to a bomber to be dropped, but I doubt Saudi Arabia has that capacity.
This lack of supplies probably not only extends to bombs but spare parts. The level of bombing has been heavy, and that means a lot of wear and tear on the planes doing the bombing, which in turn means a lot of repairs.
This does NOT mean Saudi Arabia has used ALL of its bombs (or it spare parts), but it has reached a point Saudi Arabia dare NOT use more, in case Iran or someone else decides to attack Arabia (i.e. You want to keep enough supplies back to fight off an invading force, you do NOT want to be in a situation where you have NOTHING to fight with).
Side note: Saudi Arabia not only has to worry about the Shiites that are on both sides of the border with what use to be called Northern Yemen, but also its own Shiite population along the Persian Gulf. If Saudi Arabia gets to tied up with Yemen, it may prohibit any action by Saudi Arabia if its Shiites along the Persian Gulf revolted.
Bombs are cheap (the fuses on the bomb actually cost 10 times the cost of the bomb themselves, this assuming "dumb bombs" only), but they do decline with age so a lot of countries just do NOT buy them except for the minimal number they may need for a month of combat. Iran and Iraq has the industrial capacity to produce bombs (and that include "Smart Bombs"
but I doubt Saudi Arabia has that capacity. Israel during the Seven Day war in 1967 and the Yom Kipper War in 1973, was running out of parts for its planes AND bombs when truces were arranged. Thus I doubt Israel has more then a month's worth of bombs, and it is the best supplied military in the Middle East.
Thus Saudi Arabia may have just run out of bombs to drop, so they declared victory and left.
