TEHRAN - A professor of political science from the University of South Alabama says that the U.S. administration’s performance in Yemen is disappointing despite President Joe Biden’s pledges to put more pressure on the Saudi Kingdom which has been pounding Yemen since March 2015.

“One word explains Biden's policy in Yemen:  Disappointing,” Nader Entessar tells the Tehran Times.

 “Although candidate Joe Biden had criticized Saudi Arabia's conduct in Yemen's conflict and expressed his desire to lessen Washington's carte blanche political and military support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen, President Biden followed Trump's policies in supporting the Saudi war efforts by enabling the Saudi war machine in the region,” Entessar remarked.

A recent high-profile strike on an oil depot in Jeddah by Ansarallah has underlined Saudi Arabia's military defense vulnerability, while America is continuing its military support to the Saudi Kingdom under the pretext of sending defensive aid. 

Ansarullah’s attacks not only damaged the reputation of Saudi Arabia as a highly safe place for global investment it also questioned the efficiency of U.S.-made air defense system for failing to intercept Yemeni–made drones and missiles.

Following the March 25 attack on a Saudi oil factory by the Ansarallah movement, the Saudi-led coalition targeted positions of the Houthis near Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on March 27.

“Abdo Rabeh Mansour was already a politically spent figure, and the Saudi regime had already gotten as much mileage from him as had been possible.”  Yet the image that will be remembered is the dramatic black plume rising from the burning oil factory close to the Formula 1 racetrack in Jeddah — a powerful symbol exposing the vulnerability of Saudi Arabia, home to 35 million people. 
Following is the text of the interview with Nader Entessar about the repercussions of the Yemeni attack on Aramco: 

Q: How do you see Ansarullah’s recent attacks on Aramco? Nobody expected the attack on Aramco to be repeated after the Saudis updated their air defenses. How could Ansarallah dare to target Aramco again? 

A: The war in Yemen is entering its eighth year.  So, it is natural for the Houthis/Ansarallah to have learned a number of valuable lessons from this conflict.  They have experimented with different tactics and have learned how to penetrate Saudi Arabia's air defenses.  Recent wars in the Middle East (West Asia) have demonstrated that the most sophisticated air defense systems can be penetrated if proper skills and tactics are deployed.

Q: Ansarullah’s missiles and drones are locally-made while Saudi air defenses are American-made which shows the Saudis’ dependence on the United States. What are the messages of the Yemenis’ success in penetrating the American Patriot missile defense system? 

A: As I alluded to in my previous answer, there is really no completely impenetrable missile defense system, and that includes the vaunted Patriot missile defense.  One important message of the Yemenis' periodic deep penetration of the Saudi air space is that the Saudi regime cannot pretend to possess all the tools to prevent retaliatory attacks by a militarily weaker side while continuing its onslaught on its southern neighbor.    

Q: Why did the Saudis decide to remove Abdo Rabeh Mansour? Is that a message to facilitate the negotiations with Ansallah? 

A: Abdo Rabeh Mansour was already a politically spent figure, and the Saudi regime had already gotten as much mileage from him as had been possible.  By forcing Mansour to renounce his claim to Yemen's leadership, Riyadh wanted to convey to the other side that it is, at least in theory, ready to entertain a negotiated exit from its Yemen quagmire and that Abdo Rabeh Mansour will no longer be an obstacle to a possible negotiated peace agreement.

Q: Do you believe that the negotiations about the war in Yemen will reach a result while Saudi Arabia is actually a party to the war and tries to exclude Ansarallah from Yemen’s political scene? 

A: For a negotiated settlement of the war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia must play the role of an honest broker among the contending parties in Yemen's conflict, including the all-important Houthis/Ansarallah.  Given the Saudi regime's immoral and illegal conduct in perpetuating the carnage in Yemen, I remain doubtful about Riyadh's willingness to change course when it comes to its destructive involvement in Yemen's conflict.

Q: How do you evaluate Biden's policy in Yemen? He had pledged to put more pressure on Saudi Arabia to stop the war.

A: One word explains Biden's policy in Yemen:  Disappointing.  Although candidate Joe Biden had criticized Saudi Arabia's conduct in Yemen's conflict and expressed his desire to lessen Washington's carte blanche political and military support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen, President Biden followed Trump's policies in supporting the Saudi war efforts by enabling the Saudi war machine in the region.