Posted on 11/12/2017 2:51:56 PM PST by jazusamo
It’s a looming heavyweight prizefight that nobody wants to see come off.
But should escalating tensions between bitter regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia break out into open conflict, Riyadh’s formidable military arsenal would quickly overwhelm Iranian forces in a conventional war, while Tehran would hold the advantage against any Saudi forces in a proxy guerrilla war, analysts say.
The animosity between the two main pillars of power in the Middle East has escalated over the past week, when Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry ordered all Saudi nationals to immediately evacuate Lebanon. The move was presumably targeted at the growing power of Hezbollah, the Shiite movement long seen as Iran’s strongest regional bulwark against Saudi influence in the country.
Iran says the announcement, days after the bizarre, abrupt resignation of Lebanese Prime Minster Saad Hariri, was engineered by ambitious Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That has led to speculation that Saudi and Iranian military forces may be on a collision course.
Mr. Hariri, in his first televised remarks since stepping down, said Sunday that Saudi Arabia did not seek a war with Iran but that he would return home only if Hezbollah agreed to stay neutral in the region’s simmering conflicts.
“We are in the eye of the storm,” the former prime minister said, a storm that has focused even more attention on the two leading protagonists.
While Iran’s 550,000-member active-duty force is over double Saudi’s 256,000 total active-duty and reserve troops, Tehran’s arsenal consists of less-advanced Chinese and Russian fighters, tanks and helicopters backed by a handful of Soviet-era armor and heavy artillery, according to independent figures compiled by GlobalFirepower.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Let them kill each other.
Quite a bit is going on over there that the press just won’t cover. But then again the numbskulls in today’s media are too lazy to do the legwork on this one.
No matter what happens I think the USA will support and defend the House of Saud, if not for any other reason is to protect the petrodollar for as long as we can.
Not to mention it would be a good excuse to take out Iran and render moot the 0bama nuclear agreement and cash giveaway.
I believe I remember that. Our son was in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert on the Iraqi border with 3ID waiting for the war to begin.
I'd be tickled if it was on pay-per-view!
I just hope we don’t end up in the middle of it.
I want lots of noise, explosions, fire in the sky....all of it.
Hezbollah Iranian proxy causing mayhem to the north of Israel leads me to believe yes the Saudi’s and Israel are trying to finally box in and negate Iran. Hezbollah gone is one step closer to ME peace, which IMHO is a goal of PDJT.
If we’re smart, we’ll sell weapons to both sides.
How long were Iran and Iraq at war? Eight years and no one gave a damn despite half a million casualties. Now we should be concerned? They have brought this on themselves, let them sort it out. The problem is the antichrist “religion” known as Islam. There will never be peace in the middle east until the Messiah returns and puts everyone in their place, settling it forever.
Well, only if we can blow both of them up after they run out of steam.
Based on those troop level numbers, would the Saudis augment their forces by hiring mercenaries?
Agreed, there hasn’t been much coverage on what’s going on over there.
There’s no doubt in my mind that President Trump will support SA.
I would be willing to get the US involved right after they have fought to the last man.
Lets git ‘er done, folks!
Color me skeptical. Saudi Arabia hasn't defeated Yemen yet. The Saudi's may have better equipment than Iran, but so did the Iraqi's and look where that got them. The Iranians sacrificed ten million men against Iraq. Today they have a population forty percent larger than they had at the start of the Iran Iraq War. Will Saudi Arabia match the kind of sacrifice Iran has already demonstrated? Oh, and while we're at it, let's not forget the effects of centuries of consanguineous marriage on the average IQ in Saudi Arabia. Just saying...
Man, I hope they stand down.
The Iranians suck and hate us, but they are angry and ascendant. The Saudis may have a good airforce, but a lot of the population seems degenerate to me, living off of oil revenue, mistreating servants, exporting terrorism. Degenerate.
And, there are over twice as many Iranian as Saudis. Any battle would have to be an air battle and quit when beat up enough or out of ammo. A real ground invasion which really ends a war couldn’t come from Saudi—not enough soldiers. Now, if it went the other way, with the seizure of Mecca, then Shiites would truly be ascendant. But, I doubt that that would be allowed to happen.
Saudi air power would quickly take out any and all force movements by the Iranians.
However, I would expect the Iranians to target all Saudi oil refineries and docks. And many would be lit afire.
Buy oil futures.
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