(Arab News-Saudi Arabia) Faisal J. Abbas - Do U.S. foreign policy advisers know who their friends in the Middle East actually are? The recent withdrawal by the U.S. of its most advanced missile defense system and Patriot batteries from Saudi Arabia at a time when Houthi terrorists in Yemen regularly and deliberately target civilian areas in the Kingdom is the equivalent of America denying Israel its Iron Dome technology while it was under attack from Hamas. The Houthis, whose official slogan is "Death to America" and who targeted the U.S. Navy during the Obama era, have actually had their terrorist designation removed by the Biden administration. The claim is the removal helps facilitate the flow of aid into Yemen; strangely, aid still goes into Gaza despite Hamas remaining on the U.S. terror list. A bigger concern is the message these moves send to the Houthis and their Iranian backers. It beggars belief that the U.S. would extend an olive branch to an Iranian regime whose official doctrine is to support and export terror. The writer is the editor-in-chief of Arab News.
2021-09-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive