Perpetuating crude oil supply worries: US removes air defence system from Saudi Arabia

[hemanthaa@mail.com + 64]

The relations between Saudi Arabia took a turn for the worse at a time the latter can least afford to let it happen this week, when it was confirmed that the US was removing the its air defence system along with the corresponding Patriotic missile batteries.

The system provided the Kingdom with much-needed protection against the explosive-laden drones and missiles, fired across the border by Yemen-based Houthis. In the absence of the system, how the Saudis going to go do it is anybody’s guess.

The relationship with the Biden administration and the Kingdom has been a frosty one from the outset. No one, however, imagined the removal of the air defence system that left the latter exposed and vulnerable on many fronts.

Will the Saudis retaliate against the Houthis and their main backers in Iran? It’s easier said than done, though.

Saudis and the Arab coalition partners have been bombarding the Houthi targets in Yemen for years, sometimes resulted in collateral damage. However, drone attacks show no sign of abating; on the contrary, they have exponentially increased, much to dismay of coalition members, when there is no international outcry apart from intermittent condemnation from the members themselves.

Will the Saudis put the boots on the ground, if the Houthis cross the red line? It’s highly unlikely.

A journalist of Pakistan origin from Britain said last year that Saudi Arabia would fight to the last Pakistani! – summing up the mood in his country of origin, when it comes to such an eventuality.

In short, the Arab coalition will not take such a move at the expense of the lives of their own soldiers.

As for the crude oil markets, any serious attack on the Saudi oil facilities in the absence of an effective defence mechanism will have serious repercussions on the crude oil supply. That means, analysts now have to focus on an additional factor something that they did not take seriously up until now.

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Edited September 14, 2021 by hemanthaa@mail.com
Typo correction