Khalid Bin Sultan - 2009 Yemen Bombing

2009 Yemen Bombing

In November 2009, Khalid bin Sultan led a Saudi military intervention in Yemen. The campaign had various tactical mistakes and Khalid was heavily criticized. The Saudis had 130 casualties and Yemen lost over 1000.

In December 2009, Khalid gave a 48-hour ultimatum for Houthi withdrawal from Al-Jabri. Soon, he declared that the campaign had ended after the Houthi promised through Al-Quds Al-Arabi they would withdraw from the border in exchange for a cease fire. The Houthi also stated that the Yemen government had used Saudi territory to bomb targets.

In February 2010, Ambassador Smith met with Khalid. Smith brought attention to Saudi air strikes on Yemeni hospitals. Khalid admitted that the event occurred because Yemen had designated the area as a Houthi military base. He also stated that this event occurred because of inaccurate military equipment and the U.S. refusal to provide Predators. He went on to state that Saudi strategy was to force the Houthis to reconcile with the Yemeni government by a strong show of military force. He complained that it was difficult to avoid civilian casualties. The Saudi-Yemeni joint committee granted clearances to Khalid bin Sultan for attacks to be conducted. He complained that Yemeni intelligence was unreliable and politically motivated. Yemen data claimed terrorist positions in a place when in actuality the place was the office of General Ali Mohsen Al Ahmar, a political adversary to President Saleh.