WASHINGTON (AP) -- Saudi Arabia began airstrikes Wednesday against Houthi rebel positions in Yemen, vowing that the Sunni kingdom will do "anything necessary" to restore a deposed government that has been routed by the Iranian-backed group.

In an unusual tableau, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States announced the rare military operation by his country at a Washington news conference about a half-hour after the bombing began. The strikes started at 7 p.m. EDT, he said.[whembly: !!!]

Loud, house-shaking explosions could be heard in the Yemen capital of Sanaa and fire and smoke could be seen in the night sky, according to an Associated Press correspondent whose home is near the military airbase in the capital.

The Houthis said in a statement to reporters that Saudi jets are hitting the military base, known as al-Duleimi, in Sanaa. They said they fired anti-aircraft missiles in response.

Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir said his government had consulted closely with the U.S. and other allies, but said the U.S. military was not directly involved in the operations.

The White House said Wednesday night that President Barack Obama has authorized logistical and intelligence support to the military operations.

"While U.S. forces are not taking direct military action in Yemen in support of this effort, we are establishing a joint planning cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate U.S. military and intelligence support," National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.

Al-Jubeir, speaking from a podium at the Saudi embassy, said nine other countries have joined the military coalition, but he declined to name them.

Five members of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain - issued a statement saying they are answering the demands to intervene in Yemen militarily. Oman, the sixth member of the council, didn't sign on. In a separate statement, Egypt announced its political and military support.

"Having Yemen fail cannot be an option for us or our coalition partners," al-Jubeir said.

The Saudi strikes were the latest in a series of fast moving developments in Yemen - a rugged, poor, isolated country that is home to an al-Qaida affiliate that has been the target of repeated American drone strikes.

Driven weeks ago from the capital by the Houthis, U.S.- and Saudi-backed Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi abandoned the country Wednesday, leaving on a boat from the southern port of Aden, Yemeni security officials said. His departure came after Houthi air strikes rained down on his troops, a sign that rebels held air superiority and that Hadi's calls for an international no-fly zone had been disregarded. On the ground, the rebels were advancing toward his position.

Al-Jubeir said the Saudi airstrikes were designed "to prevent Yemen from falling into the hands of the Houthis," but the reality is that the capital and some of the country's main cities already have fallen to the group, and ground troops will be required to take them back. The ambassador said he didn't want to discuss military details.

It was unacceptable, Al-Jubeir said, that a "militia," as he called the Houthis, should have air power, along with "ballistic missiles, heavy weapons as well as military bases and ports."

Al-Jubeir recounted a series of diplomatic efforts to dissuade the Houthi from continuing their offensive. But, he said, they "have always chosen the path of violence."

He says the Saudis "will do anything necessary" to protect the people of Yemen and "the legitimate government of Yemen."

Hadi's departure illustrated how one of the most important American counterterrorism efforts has disintegrated. It also raised the specter of what could be a deeply destabilizing proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Saudi announcement only reinforced that notion.

Three years ago, American officials hailed Hadi's ascension to power in a U.S.-brokered deal that ended the longtime rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh during the political upheaval of the Arab Spring. And just a few months ago, President Barack Obama was still calling Yemen a counterterrorism success story, even as the CIA warned that Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were growing restive in the north of the country.

Now, U.S. officials acknowledge their efforts against Yemen's dangerous al-Qaida affiliate are seriously hampered, with the American embassy closed and the last U.S. troops evacuated from the country over the weekend. Although the Houthis have seized control of much of the country and are avowed enemies of al-Qaida, they can't project power against the militants the way the Hadi government could with American support, officials say. And now they will be fighting the Saudis and their allies.

Deeply anti-American, the Houthis have rejected U.S. overtures, officials say.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is considered the terror group most dangerous to the U.S. because it successfully placed three bombs on U.S.-bound airlines, although none exploded. The chaos in Yemen will give the group breathing space, American officials acknowledge.

Beyond terrorism, the latest developments in Yemen have worrisome implications for a Middle East already wracked by Sunni-Shia conflict, experts say. Before the airstrikes began, Saudi Arabia bolstered its troop presence along its border with Yemen. It's unclear how Iran will view the Saudi military strikes.

"This is all about Sunni vs. Shia, Saudi vs. Iran," said Michael Lewis, professor at Ohio Northern University College of Law and a former Navy fighter pilot who watches Yemen closely. The U.S., he said, "can't be a disinterested observer. Nobody's going to buy that. What we needed to do was pick a side."

--

Associated Press writers Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen, and Lolita C. Baldor and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

 Medium of Death wrote:
Perhaps some of you military guys can answer this.

Is it true, or at least possible, that it's American pilots flying these Saudi planes because the Saudis are massively incompetent?

 Medium of Death wrote:
Perhaps some of you military guys can answer this.

Is it true, or at least possible, that it's American pilots flying these Saudi planes because the Saudis are massively incompetent?

 whembly wrote:
But, we have US interests there (Military Bases and oil).

 BlaxicanX wrote:

 whembly wrote:
But, we have US interests there (Military Bases and oil).

If hell existed, the United States would have "interests" there. We're just stubbornly greedy like that.

Hmmm. That gives me a great idea for a story. A mockumentary about the United States miltiary trying to occupy hell. "[southern drawl]The intelligence that the brave men and women in our agencies have ascertained provide irrefutable evidence that Satan the Devil is in fact, building weapons of mass destruction [southern drawl]."

 BlaxicanX wrote:

 whembly wrote:
But, we have US interests there (Military Bases and oil).

If hell existed, the United States would have "interests" there. We're just stubbornly greedy like that.

Hmmm. That gives me a great idea for a story. A mockumentary about the United States miltiary trying to occupy hell. "[southern drawl]The intelligence that the brave men and women in our agencies have ascertained provide irrefutable evidence that Satan the Devil is in fact, building weapons of mass destruction [southern drawl]."

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 BlaxicanX wrote:

 whembly wrote:
But, we have US interests there (Military Bases and oil).

If hell existed, the United States would have "interests" there. We're just stubbornly greedy like that.

Hmmm. That gives me a great idea for a story. A mockumentary about the United States miltiary trying to occupy hell. "[southern drawl]The intelligence that the brave men and women in our agencies have ascertained provide irrefutable evidence that Satan the Devil is in fact, building weapons of mass destruction [southern drawl]."

South Park beat you to it, but switch Hell for Heaven

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I say we leave the middle east to its problems. Let them kill themselves.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
The Kingdom's feud with Iran is nothing new, and having Iran with a entry point to the Kingdom is strongly against their interests. I'm surprised we didn't see action like this before.

 mitch_rifle wrote:
Honestly i don't see why Iran is the enemy of the west, they're actively fighting these Sunni terrorists group's whilst the wealthy Saudi's and gulf states are funding all these donkey-caves makes no fething sense.

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0708/FirearmsAustralia

 Frazzled wrote:

 mitch_rifle wrote:
Honestly i don't see why Iran is the enemy of the west, they're actively fighting these Sunni terrorists group's whilst the wealthy Saudi's and gulf states are funding all these donkey-caves makes no fething sense.

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0708/FirearmsAustralia

Hezzbullah
Hamas

destabilizing Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon

Helping kill American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq

That whole pledging Death to America thing.

 LordofHats wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I say we leave the middle east to its problems. Let them kill themselves.

Pretty surefire way to send the world economy into chaos, as the ME has a significant effect on global oil prices (something the Saudi's have been reminding the world of the last few months)

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:


Once upon a time there was this small island that had a global empire, the biggest the world's ever seen. They were a tough and ruthless bunch, but even they couldn't handle the Middle East. Eventually, they said, feth this, we're pulling out. The End

The history books are there if anybody wants to read them.

 Medium of Death wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I say we leave the middle east to its problems. Let them kill themselves.

Pretty surefire way to send the world economy into chaos, as the ME has a significant effect on global oil prices (something the Saudi's have been reminding the world of the last few months)

Isn't the USA leading the world on oil production at the moment?

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I think the founding fathers had the right of it. Let the world deal with themselves unless it's a direct threat against America, case by case basis. Like Hitler was. " 'Murica needs oil" is not a direct threat. Costs may go up, but it keeps our boys alive.

Then again, my company pays for my gas. So I may be biased.

 Pacific wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:


Once upon a time there was this small island that had a global empire, the biggest the world's ever seen. They were a tough and ruthless bunch, but even they couldn't handle the Middle East. Eventually, they said, feth this, we're pulling out. The End

The history books are there if anybody wants to read them.

The final verse of the Rudyard Kipling poem springs to mind, 'The Young British Soldier', which was written in the late 19th century.

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

An area of the world that has proved impossible to control or pacify, going back over the centuries if not millennia.

One can assume that history books are not read, or else are understood and those behind the direction of armed forces just don't care.

Kipling actively encouraged his young son to go to war. Kipling's son John died in the First World War, at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, at age 18. John had initially wanted to join the Royal Navy, but having had his application turned down after a failed medical examination due to poor eyesight, he opted to apply for military service as an Army officer. But again, his eyesight was an issue during the medical examination. In fact, he tried twice to enlist, but was rejected. His father had been lifelong friends with Lord Roberts, commander-in-chief of the British Army, and colonel of the Irish Guards, and at Rudyard's request, John was accepted into the Irish Guards.[61]

He was sent to Loos two days into the battle in a reinforcement contingent. He was last seen stumbling through the mud blindly, screaming in agony after an exploding shell had ripped his face apart. A body identified as his was not found until 1992, although that identification has been challenged