00:00I quickly want to cut across and bring in my colleague Sandeep Unnithan, senior journalist for more on this.
00:06Sandeep, very alarming situation.
00:08Saudi Arabia is seeking American intervention, but that's fraught with danger of the escalation going to Babal Mandab.
00:17Absolutely, Gaurav.
00:18You know, Saudi Arabia is facing one of the most gravest security challenges possibly in its history.
00:24You know, never has the kingdom being attacked this way.
00:27You know, its oil refinery, oil refining capacities have been hit, its pipelines have been hit,
00:34and now consecutive attacks on Riyadh International Airport.
00:38Two attacks in two days.
00:40These are the worst attacks on any GCC country since the 28th of February.
00:45Saudi Arabia is in a very, very tough position right now.
00:48Its oil exports are paralyzed, its airspace is contested,
00:52and all of this being carried out by, you know, guerrillas in the mountains of North Yemen
00:58who have in the last month captured all of Yemen's seacoast,
01:03putting them in a dominating position over the Babal Mandab,
01:06through which Saudi Arabia's oil is exported to the rest of the world.
01:11So, the kingdom is in a very, very tough position right now.
01:13That is, with a great, you know, pomp and show, this Mecca agreement was inked.
01:21Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, three Sunni Muslim countries came together
01:26for the defense of Saudi Arabia.
01:29Now, four attacks in five days, Saudi Arabia is being hit.
01:33Their airport, their oil infrastructure, their cities,
01:36in fact, there are reports that even Dhamam Airport, an attempt was made to target it.
01:40Where is the Mecca agreement? Is it working? Is it not working?
01:44Well, Gaurav, it's a good question because ever since the Mecca agreement has been signed,
01:48I don't think any of the partners foresaw that it would need to be called to action so quickly.
01:54It was signed on the 7th of August, and just a month over that,
01:58on the 11th of September, the Houthis began their offensive.
02:01They captured the Yemeni seacoast, and they started attacking Saudi Arabia
02:06in a way that we've not seen, at least in the 21st century.
02:09And now, Saudi Arabia is in such a deep, in a crisis,
02:13and they've been calling out to their partners, Turkey, and most importantly, Pakistan.
02:19Now, Gaurav, we know Pakistan has the largest army in the Islamic world,
02:24600,000 soldiers, but they have been making all kinds of excuses.
02:28They don't want to deploy to Yemen, given their own internal situation,
02:33how fragile it is internally.
02:34There is an insurrection in Khyber Paktoonkwa, in Balochistan.
02:39There's civil unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
02:44Asim Muneer is facing a very grave, grim internal security challenge.
02:49Can he afford to deploy troops?
02:51They're talking numbers, 30,000, 40,000.
02:54These numbers have been tossed around, as to the Pakistan.
02:57So, the last 30 seconds that I have on this part of the show,
03:00don't they already have air defense systems in Saudi Arabia,
03:03and their J-10Cs, their much-touted Chinese-built fighter jets.
03:08So, the J-10Cs and the surface-to-air missiles,
03:11all of them, the air defense system doesn't seem to be working
03:13against these Houthi missiles.
03:17Yes, Gaurav, and that's exactly what we've seen
03:19in the other theater of the war in Iran as well.
03:22Iran has been able to get through,
03:24its Iranian missiles have been able to penetrate
03:26the GCC countries' air defense network,
03:29and this is what is happening in Saudi Arabia as well.
03:31They have interceptors, but not enough
03:33to stop all of the missiles and all of the drones.
03:36And, Gaurav, you know, interceptor missiles are not enough.
03:39If you have to get to the Houthis,
03:41you have to deploy boots on the ground,
03:43and that is something that none of the coalition partners
03:46seem to be wanting to do right now.
03:49Given the fact that we've seen how terribly it's worked in the past,
03:52in 1967, Egypt deployed a third of its army.
03:56They got sucked into that Yemeni conflict,
03:59and it was a defeat in the war with Israel that followed.
04:05We saw that just about 10 years back
04:07when the UAE-Saudi Arabian forces were humiliated by the Houthis.
04:11So, this is something that Pakistan and Turkey are very aware of,
04:15and they don't want to deploy troops,
04:17at least in the numbers it would take.
04:19But will they have an option,
04:21or since they've signed the Mecca agreement,
04:24which may be a defensive posture,
04:26but look at these attacks that are taking place,
04:28and should they intensify,
04:30then will Pakistan have to deploy,
04:32and will America carry out strikes on Houthi forces?
04:35All of those developments,
04:37we'll be tracking them very closely.
04:39Sandeep, for the moment, many thanks for joining me.
