🇸🇦🇾🇪 The war in Yemen could become a fight for Saudi Arabia's survival I asked former CIA analyst Larry Johnson how much longer Mohammed bin Salman can withstand the Houthi campaign against Saudi Arabia. His answer was more alarming than I expected. Larry believes MBS could lose power before the end of the year. His argument isn't simply about missiles hitting oil facilities. It's about what happens when a leader has spent years concentrating nearly every important lever of power in his own hands. The Saudi royal family once distributed authority among different branches. MBS dismantled much of that arrangement, making himself indispensable but also creating a single point of failure. Now Saudi infrastructure is under sustained attack, air defenses are reportedly stretched thin, and Larry believes the damage to the kingdom's energy industry could take years to repair. He also expects the Houthis to eventually push into Saudi territory along the Yemeni border, although he doesn't foresee them marching on Riyadh. What interested me was his disagreement with reports that Iran might launch ground incursions into Gulf countries if America restarts the war. Larry considers that unlikely. He sees no evidence of the troop movements or logistical preparations such an operation would require. Instead, he believes Iran can inflict enormous damage with missiles alone. And that's the uncomfortable position Saudi Arabia finds itself in. A kingdom built around one increasingly isolated ruler is confronting an enemy that doesn't need to conquer the country to make governing it extraordinarily difficult. @NewSonof