DOHA, October 17. /TASS/. Saudi Arabia’s European allies are experiencing difficulties with supplying additional air defense systems to Saudi Arabia because they need them for their own defense purposes, The National newspaper wrote, citing military analysts.
Riyadh insists on additional deliveries of military equipment to repel attacks by Yemen’s radical Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement. However, according to the newspaper’s defense sources, the United Kingdom and France have no opportunity to transfer these systems without harming their own defense potential in the Baltic countries. Besides, London has been delivering weapons to Ukraine in significant amounts, including Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
"We have very little left in the locker to give," the newspaper quoted a UK defense source as saying. "We really have nothing to send over to them."
According to The National, many Western countries have depleted their arsenals because of their commitments to Eastern European countries and Kiev.
"They [Saudi Arabia] need it because they are a big country," Lynette Nusbacher, a former military intelligence officer, was quoted as saying. "They've got a lot of big targets that are easily spottable on Google Earth and they're up against people who have got sufficient ballistic missiles."
In her words, Saudi Arabia is in the urgent need of aid from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and the United States. Britain already has a battery of Sky Sabre air defence systems at King Fahd Air Base, while France has announced it will send defensive military systems to cover the key Red Sea port of Yanbu in the western part of the kingdom.
According to The National, the growing vulnerability of Saudi infrastructure was demonstrated by the Houthi missile attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on October 10. As a result, 12 people were killed and 309 wounded.
In all, the Saudi capital’s main airport was targeted by Houthi attacks at least four times. On October 8, a civil aircraft was damaged and at least three people were killed. On October 1, one of the airport’s terminals was damaged. On October 12, the coalition’s forces reported intercepting a missile above the city.
Because of frequent attacks and flight disruptions, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jasem al-Budaiwi, announced that the scheduled summit between the Gulf countries and the European Union has been postponed.