WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, US officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict.

The buildup follows a southward advance by Iranian-backed Houthi militants who took control of the capital Sanaa in September and seized the central city of Taiz at the weekend as they move closer to the new southern base of US-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The armour and artillery being moved by Saudi Arabia could be used for offensive or defensive purposes, two US government sources said. Two other US officials said the build-up appeared to be defensive.

One US government source described the size of the Saudi build-up on Yemen’s border as “significant” and said the Saudis could be preparing air strikes to defend Hadi if the Houthis attack his refuge in the southern seaport of Aden.

Another US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had acquired intelligence about the Saudi build-up. But there was no immediate word on the precise location near the border or the exact size of the force deployed.

The conflict risks spiraling into a proxy war with Iran backing the Houthis, whose leaders adhere to the Zaydi sect, and Saudi Arabia and the other regional Muslim monarchies backing Hadi.

Hadi, who supported Washington’s campaign of deadly drone strikes on a powerful Al Qaeda branch based in Yemen, has been holed up in Aden with his loyalist forces since he fled Sanaa in February.

Saudi Arabia faces the risk of the turmoil spilling across its porous 1,800 km-long border with Yemen and into its Eastern Province where the kingdom’s richest oil deposits lie.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2015

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