By Tyler Durden
The United Kingdom has on Tuesday announced yet more creeping escalation in the Yemen war. It is offering Saudi Arabia 'defensive' assistance by deploying its Typhoon fighter jets.
The British Ministry of Defence claimed the warplanes and British pilots would operate only in a "defensive role" - though its yet to be seen what exactly this will mean.
"The UK will fly defensive counter air missions to support the protection of Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure against aerial attack, using RAF Typhoon fighter jets," the statement added.
In this current situation the line between what gets deemed defensive vs. offensive is going to be thin, at a moment Saudi territory has been coming under almost daily attack from Houthi ballistic missiles and drones. Will UK warplanes move to take out launch systems if their locations are identified in Yemen?
The kingdom's major airports have been shuttered for the past week, with airspace effectively closed due to the missile threat, and Aramco energy sites have been pummeled.
It is almost unprecedented to see the Saudi economy, which relies heavily on foreign investments for expansion, essentially get temporarily cut off from the outside world. The kingdom has been forced to cancel over a dozen major events it was expected to host, including its annual 'Davos in the Desert' flagship investor conference, which was originally scheduled for next week.
Concerning the kingdom's Future Investment Initiative, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Organizers decided Monday that if the conference goes ahead, its sessions will be held virtually rather than in person, the people said."
The report added: "The kingdom is expected to make a decision Tuesday or earlier whether to postpone the event, they said. Postponement is the most likely outcome, some of the people said."