A look at events in the Middle East

At Chicago Boyz Michael Kennedy writes about the fighting in Yemen.

As for Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom is waging the first war in its history. Yet with its small, weak and inexperienced army, it cannot commit ground troops to fight both the Shiite Houthis or the Sunni Jihadists, and is relying mainly on its air power that has, thus far, caused the death of many innocent civilians.

It also is blockading ports to prevent Iranian resupply of Yemeni clients.

...The Egyptians are planning to help in Yemen. Even though Nasser’s campaign in Yeman was a disaster, that was in 1962 and run by Nasser, an incompetent.

The Pakistanis have not yet committed to the fight. Meanwhile, Assad is looking vulnerable.

A surge of rebel gains in Syria is overturning long-held assumptions about the durability of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which now appears in greater peril than at any time in the past three years.

...Iran may just have more on its plate than it can handle. Obama is promising to end the sanctions which have harmed the country’s economy and , perhaps, its ability to service its clients. For example, Iran has been resupplying Hamas after the Israeli incursion.

...Now, it seems, Iran is helping rebuild the Hamas tunnels in Gaza.

Iran has sent tens of millions of dollars to Hamas to help rebuild the Gaza tunnels destroyed by Israel during last summer’s conflict, the Telegraph reported.

Now, with Assad shaky and Hamas consuming ever more resources, Israel has discovered huge natural gas deposits.

Over a very short time span of barely four years, from the discovery of the Tamar and the Leviathan field to today, Israel has moved from the status of “protected” power to the status of an emerging energy power. This is a transformation of its importance, of its role and of its inherent power.

Israelis are building economic and political links.

...with Sissi helming the government in Cairo, trade with Israel is stronger than ever.

Iran may be reaching the limits of its strength in the middle east. If it loses Assad, it will lose Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Obama may be too late to save the Ayatollah. Meanwhile, Egypt looks to be considering a move into Libya to capture the eastern oil fields. The eastern fields appear to be the largest and are close to Egypt. The anarchy in Libya gives Egypt an excellent opportunity to get its own oil.

The other factor that is a threat to Iran is that ISIS is really a Sunni insurgency that, while destructive and destabilizing, is also Iran’s worst enemy. It is being directed by Iraqi Sunni generals who were excluded from the Maliki run state under Iranian pressure.

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