IT was during the 30th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which took place in Kuwait in December 2009, Iran's attempts at destabilizing Yemen came into the spotlight, when delegates expressed their solidarity with Saudi Arabia over its struggle to repel Shiite Houthi rebels based in north Yemen from their territory. These rebels were positioned along the edge of Saudi Arabia's sensitive southern border, they entered Saudi territory in cross-border incursions, and breaching the sovereignty of the Kingdom, they struck at targets in blatant acts of aggression. With the Iranian offer of weapons to the Shiite sect, plus logistical aid, the Iranian regime soon found their new proxy force easy to manipulate. In no time at all, they had the Houthis doing their bidding, in a continued campaign of harassment against both Yemeni and Saudi people. In November 2009, things really began to hot up between the Houthis and the Saudi government, after the rebels clashed with Saudi border guards in the Jabal Dukhan territory along the Kingdom's border with northern Yemen. In response to the rebel attack, Saudi helicopters carried out a series of forays in areas occupied by the Houthis, killing at least forty insurgents. With Saudi Arabia always having been viewed by the Iranian clerical regime as a rival in their bid for supremacy of the Middle East, constant threats have been made against the country by its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, from the moment he had come to power, spouting anti-Saudi rhetoric from almost the instant he took over. As far as the Iranians are concerned, with Yemen's northern border adjacent to Saudi Arabia's southern border, the Houthis make the perfect proxy force with which to hit out at the Kingdom, using this border area as a springboard for armed incursions, in a bid to cause as much instability as possible. With or without WMDs With many observers convinced that Iran is still seeking to build nuclear weapons, with which to threaten neighboring states, Iran Deal or no Iran Deal, with the foothold it has already gained in places like Syria and Iraq, plus its meddling in countries like Yemen, the Iranian regime would eventually become a direct threat to Saudi Arabia, as well as the rest of the Arab world, with or without WMDs. Should Iran gain a foothold in Yemen, it could eventually setup naval bases along the Red Sea coast, from which it could receive continuous arms supplies via the sea, and by establishing ground forces in the area, it would become a direct threat to shipping, which has to pass through the Bab El-Mandeb checkpoint, in order to navigate the stretch of ocean from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden or visa-versa. Then through a strong military presence in this area, Iran would be able to control the supply of goods and weapons to that region, and become a direct threat to the movement of naval forces passing by, in the same way that it has shown can be done in the Strait of Hormuz. — Al Arabiya News
