(Sanaa) A little concerned about how Shia Houthi rebels next door in Yemen, with a little military help from Shia Iran, decided to remove the legitimate government by the bullet and the bomb and not the ballot box, Saudi Arabia decided to remove the spectre of Iran from their front door by removing them by force. This kicked off with an air campaign against the Houthi rebels on the 26th March 2015. This was backed up by a naval presence off the coast designed to stop Iran from resupplying their proxies by sea. The next phase (land) kicked off on the 3rd of August when 3000 troops (with armour), who had been deployed to the port of Aden to reinforce it from the Houthi advance, pushed out and advanced and took the Al Anad Air Base approx 40 kms north of the city.
Whilst the rebels were licking their wounds from this, the Saudis launched a huge invasion force from the al-Wadiya border crossing and took the city of Marib.
A logical move, as the terrain is flat as a pancake from A to B. Unfortunately, from Marib to San'a (the capital) life becomes a little more mountainous (actually, the entire eastern side is so) and the rebels are finding it relatively easy to ambush the Saudis and their friends. I aired a video the other day of 2 M1A2 tanks being taken out by anti-tank missiles.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-osRVVjfAfF2xLE_MKwDwgqgB1bnuhZ9HO05wCy7cQ2bJgICcBi8kM_SQa09UEkCMfPvGegi2yd247ABCcM6XnuZcxD_o6xjlheo9v2F5bq6GCcp0MvMl6xFw1mey8KkGtJbsFyjSC14/s640/yemen-081215+%25281%2529.jpg)
Whilst the rebels were licking their wounds from this, the Saudis launched a huge invasion force from the al-Wadiya border crossing and took the city of Marib.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpD_sWiF0986zoibS2KjniSSP5k5s-TfiR3oDeyZ3vJqQSIGS2xZc2BKbnoyqOSP35y2CkGW5ikZEP66edICYaI8Vb5T1zmbMcehWaOZA6kPunFHZg0WNZ8VeeJHqFwg9ZPrbUyuUTNQzR/s640/yemen-tactical-update-8-6-15.jpg)
A logical move, as the terrain is flat as a pancake from A to B. Unfortunately, from Marib to San'a (the capital) life becomes a little more mountainous (actually, the entire eastern side is so) and the rebels are finding it relatively easy to ambush the Saudis and their friends. I aired a video the other day of 2 M1A2 tanks being taken out by anti-tank missiles.