The

The Saudi Arabia's American-backed war on Yemen continues, yet it is massively failing to achieve its stated objectives.

The Houthis continue to advance in the region,

and the instability is causing al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula to gain more ground.

Yes, bombing civilians and the poorest country in the Arab world

is only exacerbating the crisis.

Before the bombing campaign even started,

two-thirds of Yemen's population was already in need of aid, and almost half of the country food insecure. At the time of this broadcast,

more than 600 people are dead. 1,700 are wounded and tens of thousands displaced. Yemen has erupted in a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

Despite the recent collaborative wave of aggression, the U.S. government has already been drone

bombing Yemen for over a decade. So what interests does the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have in Yemen?

And why does America continue to pledge unyielding support

to one of the world's worst human rights abusers and most oppressive monarchies?

To help me break it all down, I'm joined now by Ali al-Ohmad, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs.

Ali, thank you so much for joining me today.

The Saudi-led airstrikes against Shia rebels in Yemen are in its third week.

Can you first talk about what interests Saudi Arabia has in Yemen and why Shia rebels pose a threat

to the monarchy?

The Saudi bombardment of Yemen does not target rebels per se. It really is targeting the center of gravity in Yemen, the power of the Yemeni state, of the Yemeni nation, because the Saudi's goal is to force Yemenis to submit to their will.

Since 1978, after the Saudis supported the coup against the popular president,

Abraham al-Hmdi, which ended up murdering him and supporting a

a puppet regime of Saudi Arabia. When that changed in 2001, the Saudi started losing control of that puppet regime because

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