On Sunday, United States (US) Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Gen. Frank McKenzie visited Saudi Arabia as part of a wider Middle Eastern tour, and said that the Kingdom is still seeking US military assistance to counter Iran’s growing presence in the region. “I think they want reassurance that they’re going to be helped if they’re attacked by Iran, and they want help against the continuing attacks,” McKenzie told reporters travelling with him.
McKenzie’s statements come amid a rise in attacks on Saudi civilian and energy infrastructure by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. According to the top general, the Houthis have launched more than 100 missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. “They’re under constant bombardment from Yemen, with a variety of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and small UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) they’re very concerned about. We want to help them with that,” McKenzie said.
The general also stated that while US troop presence in the region has prevented a “state on state” attack from Iran on Saudi Arabia, what was more important was the “broad spectrum of capabilities” that Washington gives Riyadh. In this respect, McKenzie said that it was important to maximise the use of the Patriot missile defence systems in Saudi Arabia by linking it with the US system, “so that if trouble occurred, we can certainly come back in very quickly to help our Saudi friends.”
However, the top US commander also noted that the presence of US forces has not stopped Iran from using its proxies to carry out attacks against American military bases in the region, especially Iraq. Over the last few months, US military installations in Iraq have increasingly come under attack from local militias aligned with Iran. Earlier this month, the Ain Al Asad military base in Iraq’s Anbar province, hosting US forces, was targeted in a drone attack. In April, five people were wounded, including two foreign contractors and three Iraqi soldiers, in a rocket attack on the US-made Balad airbase that is situated to the north of Baghdad.
McKenzie warned that attacks by Iranian-backed militias using “small drones” are only going to increase in the future and said that finding solutions to counter such attacks was a top priority for the US. “We’re working very hard to find technical fixes that would allow us to be more effective against drones,” McKenzie told reporters on Thursday during his visit to Iraq.
The general also noted that it was important that the US find more ways of dealing with such attacks on US bases and Saudi Arabia, especially in light of the US troop reduction in Iraq. He said, “I think we’re still going to have a presence here. It might not look exactly like the presence it was five or seven years ago where we get hundreds and thousands of forces here, but I think we’re going to play very smart games to leverage what we have.”
McKenzie’s visit to Saudi Arabia and his assurances to the Kingdom come amid President Joe Biden’s tougher stance on the Gulf monarchy and Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman (MBS). In February, the US released a report blaming MBS for the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The Biden administration has also halted the sale of offensive weapons to the Kingdom over concerns about human rights violations in Yemen as a result of the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes in Yemen. In this context, Saudi Arabia has been trying to gain much needed diplomatic ground in the region. Last month, MBS signalled his interest to hold talks with arch-foe Iran and also tried to ease the tensions with Washington by saying that differences between both sides were minimal.
US CENTCOM Chief: Saudi Arabia Seeks US “Reassurance”, Fearing Iranian Attack
The US General’s statements come amid a rise in attacks on Saudi civilian and energy infrastructure by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
May 24, 2021
US CENTCOM Chief Frank McKenzie SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS