Saudi Arabia dismisses military officials responsible for Yemen conflict

Saudi Arabia has dismissed several high ranking military officials responsible for the Yemen campaign during a series of declarations by King Salman yesterday.

No official explanation has been given for their dismissal but the change in the military top brass comes as the Saudi intervention in Yemen against Houthi rebels enters its third year.

The conflict has been described by the UN as the “world worst humanitarian crisis in 50 years”. It is having a devastating effect on millions of Yemenis. Over 10,000 are reported to have died, the conflict has caused widespread food shortages and a major cholera outbreak as well as leaving millions in need of humanitarian assistance.

Read: Can talks in Oman end the war in Yemen?

Despite the human toll, the conflict is far from ending adding further pressure on the Crown Prince, Mohamed Bin Salman, who is overseeing the country’s biggest ever transformation. The de facto ruler of the Kingdom is thought to have launched the war in 2015 imagining a swift victory. Instead Riyadh has been locked in a war that is looking increasingly like a quagmire, which critics have described as Saudi’s Vietnam.

The conflict has also been the source of embarrassment for the Kingdom on the international arena. While Iran has been blamed by the Saudi’s for their inability to end the conflict swiftly, it’s not clear to what extent it is the Mullahs in Tehran and not the Houthi rebels in Yemen that are causing so much headache for the Saudi Crown Prince.