U.S. Air Force expands operating base in Saudi Arabia

[TomSea]

U.S. Air Force expands operating base in Saudi Arabia

July 24 (UPI) -- Several hundred U.S. Air Force personnel are expanding an operating base in Saudi Arabia, which will host fighter planes and Patriot missiles, officials said.

The move to establish an expeditionary annex at Prince Sultan Air Base, which the U.S. military left 15 years ago, has been prompted by increasing threats from Iran.

About 500 personnel are expected to use the annex, which includes a medical facility, as a base of operations. The increase in U.S. troop presence in the Middle East was announced in June but its location was made public last week.

Read more at: https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/07/24/US-Air-Force-expands-operating-base-in-Saudi-Arabia/1451563982910/

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Oh.

Hell.

No.

[thackney]

Saudi king approves hosting U.S. troops to enhance regional security: SPA
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-security-usa-military-idUSKCN1UE2P5

...The decision on hosting U.S. forces aims “to increase joint cooperation in defence of regional security and stability and to preserve its peace” SPA said, quoting a Ministry of Defence official, without giving further details.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the deployment would include about 500 U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia, and is part of a boost in the number of U.S. troops in the Middle East that the Pentagon announced last month.

In June, the Pentagon said it would deploy 1,000 troops to the Middle East but did not say where they were going....

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US troops return to Saudi Arabia after 16 years
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/07/us-troops-return-saudi-arabia-iran-tensions.html

...Bringing the Americans back now underscores how deeply concerned the king is about the regional situation. The American violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action last year, a move Riyadh encouraged, has set Washington and Tehran on a collision course. Iran cannot allow its oil exports to be curbed by sanctions. The government-controlled Saudi press has openly called for American military action in response to Iranian attacks on oil tankers.

Meanwhile the Saudi war in Yemen, the crown prince’s signature policy, is an ever more expensive quagmire. Hundreds of Houthi missiles and drones are hitting Saudi cities like Abha and even Riyadh with technical assistance from Iran and Hezbollah.

When Operation Decisive Storm began more than four years ago, many Saudi allies provided at least token support. That support has all but vanished. The last important partner, the United Arab Emirates, is now significantly drawing down its forces, leaving the kingdom in the lurch. The fractious alliance of Yemenis opposed to the Houthis will become more difficult to manage.

Congress has made it clear that it wants the administration to fundamentally review American policy toward the kingdom and especially the crown prince. The House vote last week to curb arms sales is not veto-proof but does show how unpopular the kingdom and especially the crown prince has become. The United Nations' special rapporteur has blamed the kingdom for journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and held the crown prince directly responsible.

By sending American troops back to the air base, the administration is acting in the opposite direction. The new deployment makes the United States a direct combatant in the Yemen war if Patriot missiles there are used to defend against Houthi attacks....

[sneakypete]

The only good news here is if DC ever wakes up,grows a pair,and decides to attack our major enemy in the Muddle East,the missiles won't have far to fly.

[TomSea]

World Index
@theworldindex
·
Jul 21
MIDDLE EAST: Total Aircraft Strength 2019:

🇪🇬Egypt: 1,092

🇹🇷Turkey: 1,067

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: 848

🇮🇱 Israel: 595

🇦🇪 UAE: 541

🇮🇷  Iran: 509

🇸🇾  Syria: 457

🇮🇶 Iraq: 327

🇯🇴  Jordan: 290

🇴🇲 Oman: 175

🇾🇪 Yemen: 169

🇧🇭  Bahrain: 107

🇶🇦  Qatar: 100

🇰🇼  Kuwait: 85

🇱🇧 Lebanon: 63

(Global Fire Power)

https://twitter.com/theworldindex/status/1152908718138449921

I guess this website must track these stats:   https://www.globalfirepower.com/

[thackney]

I guess this website must track these stats:   https://www.globalfirepower.com/

🇾🇪 Yemen: 169

That number looks difficult to believe having lived in Yemen.

[Fishrrman]

Establishing a support base for a combined Israeli/US strike against Iran...?

[sneakypete]

Establishing a support base for a combined Israeli/US strike against Iran...?

Yeah,having armed Jews near Mecca should really go over big in Saudi Arabia.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Establishing a support base for a combined Israeli/US strike against Iran...?

Nah, they want us to attack Iran for them, while they rile up their crazies about there being infidels on their soil.

[sneakypete]

Nah, they want us to attack Iran for them, while they rile up their crazies about there being infidels on their soil.

@InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

And there it is. Our military is being pimped out once again to protect the profits of oil billionaires and Muslims.

[TomSea]

That number looks difficult to believe having lived in Yemen.

@thackney

Yes, you have said you lived there previously. I am certainly no expert. I do know South Yemen was a Soviet client-state at one time.

Upheavals in Yemen in 1978-1979 produced a pro-Soviet regime in south Yemen and pulled the traditionally more moderate North Yemen into a closer relationship with Moscow as well.

South Yemen was advised to thoroughly reorganize along Leninist lines with a centralized, dsciplined party, a broad political organization, a Marxist-Leninist ideology, a centrally planned economy, and a drive to squeeze out the private sector and any political pluralism. The Cuban and East German advisers, who helped organize a disciplined and loyal secret police, were especially valuable in the process of consolidating power.

In 1967, the left took control of South Yemen, a region that had been a British colony/protectorate for over a century. Two years later, the South moved further left and allied itself with the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba. The Soviet Union took over the military training of the South Yemeni army, and the South Yemen capital, Aden, became a Soviet naval base.

More: https://coldwarstudies.com/2015/03/23/cold-war-yemen-some-things-you-need-to-know/

[thackney]

@thackney

Yes, you have said you lived there previously. I am certainly no expert. I do know South Yemen was a Soviet client-state at one time.

There used to be some number of 1950s and 60s planes, but the last decade should have really decimated that old junk.

Yemen’s ‘barely functional’ air force points to US involvement in strikes
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2012-03-29/yemens-barely-functional-air-force-points-to-us-involvement-in-strikes

...The stories of corruption are phenomenal,’ he says. Pilots cannot fly at night because corruption in military procurement means ‘they don’t have the navigation instruments’. In 2011, Yemeni officials supported this assertion when they confirmed a July 14 strike was carried out by US drones, telling the Associated Press Yemeni planes are not equipped for night strikes....

...Journalist Sharon Weinberger found the air force was barely functioning while reporting for Aviation Week on the protesting airmen in the capital, Sanaa. ‘My impression was that the air force as a whole is on the verge of breaking down,’ she later told the Bureau.

According to the IISS, Yemen has 79 combat-capable aircraft, but some of these are described as ‘unreliable’, particularly 19 ‘aged’ MiG-21 strike fighters....

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The Yemeni Air Force Probably No Longer Exists
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-yemeni-air-force-probably-no-longer-exists-49f838928670
Mar 27, 2015

...Saudi Arabia has launched a major air campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen. During the opening hours, Riyadh’s warplanes bombed some of the largest rebel-held air bases in the country.
These bases — and the fighter jets and helicopters parked at them — had been one of the Yemeni government’s only material advantages. For years, Yemen depended on its largely obsolete air force to carry out strikes against rebels in areas where its ground army couldn’t go....