The UK said Tuesday it will send fighter jets to protect Saudi Arabia’s cities and critical infrastructure from escalating aerial attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis.
Saudi Arabia on Monday postponed its flagship investment conference, as the Houthis mount intensifying — and deadly — strikes against symbols of the kingdom’s global ambitions, including airports and energy infrastructure.
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s annus horribilis has laid bare how, despite some reforms, “the core of the Saudi state has changed little,” The Economist argued: “Its economy still depends on oil money, its army is still built to protect the regime rather than wage war, and its foreign policy still relies on America as an indispensable protector.”