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VIDEO: Footage of a Saudi Patriot missile interceptor veering off-course and crashing tonight in #Riyadh follow reports of a Houthi ballistic missile attack Hope you can see this video. Kind of dramatic.

JERUSALEM – Two reports today about Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of an Israeli military strike have analysts in Israel accusing the Obama administration leaking information to pressure Israel not to bomb Iran and for Iran to reach a compromise in upcoming nuclear talks. The first report in Foreign Policy quotes anonymous American officials saying that Israel has been given access to airbases by Iran’s northern neighbor Azerbaijan from which Israel could launch air strikes or at least drones and search and rescue aircraft. The second report from Bloomberg, based on a leaked congressional report, said that Iran’s nuclear...

Concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons program are heard these days more in Arabic than any other language, including Hebrew. In recent weeks, it seems that temperatures on both sides of the Persian Gulf have come to a boil. Temperatures in the Gulf, although usually high during the summer, reached a peak not due to global warming but because of increasing fear of Iran among Arab Gulf states. Indeed, concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons program and negative involvement in the region are heard these days more in Arabic than any other language, including Hebrew. The current peak is associated with a...

Saudi Arabia, concerned over Iran's nuclear weapons program, could turn to Pakistan for the kingdom's own nuclear project, a report said. The Institute of National Security Studies said Riyad has been working to prepare a nuclear infrastructure meant to deter neighboring Iran. In a report by researcher Yoel Guzansky, the institute cited Pakistan as the most likely developer of a Saudi nuclear option. "Therefore, should Saudi Arabia find itself in a sensitive security situation, it may well be that it would seek to capitalize on its investment in the Pakistani program," the report, titled "The Saudi Nuclear Option, said. The...

Saudi Arabia's War in Yemen Has Been a Disaster This month marks three years since the start of the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, but that is unlikely to be an occasion for celebration in Riyadh. The war is estimated to have cost the Saudis upwards of $100 billion, eroded the international image of the kingdom and failed to achieve its objectives of “eliminating Iranian influence” from Yemen. At the same time, the people of Yemen have suffered immensely from the U.S.-backed Saudi campaign, which killed thousands of Yemeni civilians, destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and has led to widespread disease and...

Saudi Arabia's capital just came under ballistic missile attack, during which Patriot missile interceptors were launched to intercept. Although it looks like at least one Patriot hit one missile, a missile fragment, or even another missile itself, came careened into the ground, resulting in this amazing video: The trajectory of the projectile as it approaches the ground is a bit puzzling, it almost looks like it is turning while under control, but it could just be the result of the intercept. Then there is this amazing video of the Patriot missile launches, and it looks like one missile either intercepted...

The Left's romance with the Islamic Republic ensues. The Senate debated on Tuesday a resolution introduced by Vermont Socialist Bernie Sanders that would require the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Yemen. The surprising support the resolution won from 44 U.S. Senators handed a big win to Iran, which is engaged in a hot war with Saudi Arabia on the Arabian Peninsula. And it was a huge slap in the face to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who was meeting with President Trump in the White House as the Senate debated the motion on the floor. It also showed the...

The US threatened unilateral action against Iran after Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Tehran’s failure to stop its weapons from reaching Houthi rebels in Yemen. "If Russia is going to continue to cover for Iran then the US and our partners need to take action on our own,” said US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday. “If we’re not going to get action on the council then we have to take our actions.” Ms Haley did not specify what kind of action could be taken. Russia on Monday vetoed the resolution that would have...

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time "multiple ground operations" in Yemen, while noting that the Islamic State has doubled in size in the war-torn country, where an insurgency by Houthis rebels has allowed terrorist groups to seek haven. "U.S. forces have conducted multiple ground operations and more than 120 strikes in 2017," said a statement from the U. S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida. The goal is to "disrupt the ability of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS-Yemen to use ungoverned spaces in Yemen as a hub for terrorist recruiting, training and...

Has Iran given cruise missiles to Hizballah as well as Yemen’s Houthis? The maiden operational launch of Iran’s Soumar Kh-55 cruise missile was apparently entrusted to Yemen’s Houthis against a UAE target. ... Yemen’s Houthi rebels last week showed on their TV channel video footage of Iran’s most highly advanced Soumar Kh-55 cruise missile, which can carry a nuclear warhead. They claimed to have fired it at the unfinished Abu Dhabi power plant on Dec.3. The United Arab Emirates refuted this claim, saying that any missile reaching their air space would have been intercepted by advanced Emirati air defenses. But...

ISTANBUL — Questions about the aims and temperament of Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince came to the fore Monday after his country issued a bellicose warning to Iran, accusing it of carrying out a missile strike on the Saudi capital that may have constituted an “act of war.” The missile was fired from neighboring Yemen on Saturday by the Houthis, a rebel group with ties to Iran that has been battling a Saudi-led military coalition. The war has spawned countless cross-border attacks — including Houthi ballistic missile launches and thousands of Saudi airstrikes across Yemen — as well as an...

audi King Salman bin Abdulaziz has sacked his younger half-brother as crown prince and appointed his nephew, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, as the new heir apparent, state television said. Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Jizan in the country's south, said the reshuffle was announced by royal decree via state television early on Wednesday. SNIP-- Political earthquake' Khalil Jahshan, the executive director for the Arab Centre of Washington from Fairfax, Virginia, said that the reshuffle constitutes a "political earthquake of the greatest magnitude". "The Saudi Arabia we knew a few hours ago is no longer," Jahshan told Al...

A ballistic missile has been intercepted over north-east Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense said

Last month, a Houthi vessel packed with explosives rammed a frigate of the Saudi Navy at high speed, killing two sailors and injuring three others. That small boat was unmanned was an unmanned drone, Defense News now reports, and this may be the first such attack by a drone boat. The attack on the Al Madinah-class frigate took place in broad daylight on January 30, in the Red Sea approximately 30 miles from the Yemeni port of Hudaydah. Three small boats approached the frigate. One got close enough to ram it, causing a large explosion. The others were "dealt with...

Iran has stepped up weapons transfers to the Houthis, the militia fighting the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, U.S., Western and Iranian officials tell Reuters, a development that threatens to prolong and intensify the 19-month-old war. The increased pace of transfers in recent months, which officials said include missiles and small arms, could exacerbate a security headache for the United States, which last week struck Houthi targets with cruise missiles in retaliation for failed missile attacks on a U.S. Navy destroyer.

Last weekend, a Saudi-led coalition carried out airstrikes against the Yemeni capital Sana’a, targeting a crowded funeral ceremony. Saudi Arabia believed that by senior Houthis rebel figures were at the funeral. The airstrike killed 140 and wounded more than 500. The number of casualties is very likely to rise. The Houthis are rebelling in order to remove the internationally-recognized government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi from power. Al-Hadi is being backed by a Saudi Arabian-led coalition against the Iranian backed Houthis in a proxy war for the control of Middle-Eastern oil. The Houthis lashed out at the USS...

Earlier this week the United States and other western powers evacuated Yemen, citing concerns about security in the rapidly deteriorating country. On the way out of the country, U.S. Marines were instructed to destroy their weapons and U.S. vehicles were taken over by Houthi rebels.  Now, without a presence there, the State Department is arguing rebel Houthis can be trusted to keep their word and to respect the U.S. embassy until it can be reoccupied. Houthis have been seen on video calling for "death to America," just brought down the U.S. backed Yemeni government and have ties to terrorism.  Last...

ASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer was targeted on Sunday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, a U.S. military spokesman told Reuters, saying the two missiles failed to hit the ship. "USS Mason detected two inbound missiles over a 60-minute period while in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen. Both missiles impacted the water before reaching the ship," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said. "There were no injuries to our sailors and no damage to the ship," he said.

Yemen’s government says it won’t participate in UN-brokered peace talks with Houthis unless the rebels withdraw from conquered territory. The talks were to be the second major diplomatic push to end the war. The office of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said in a statement on Sunday there would be no meeting until the Shiite Houthis “recognize international resolution 2216 and agree to implement it unconditionally.” The United Nations resolution stipulates that the rebels must surrender any weapons taken from state institutions and withdraw from land they have seized. …

The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for ammunition for the Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) and associated equipment, parts and logistical support for an estimated cost of $500 million. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested a possible sale of (1,000,000) 430/M430A1 40mm High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP) Cartridges, (60,000) M456A1 105mm High Explosive Anti-Tank Tracer (HEAT-T) Cartridges, and (60,000) M107 155mm High Explosive (HE) Projectiles.