'Decisive Storm' not up to its name's claim

Once upon a time, big military operations were given obscure names so the enemy wouldn't guess what the plan was.

The German plan for the invasion of France in 1940 was called ''Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow); the American counterattack in the Korean War that recovered Seoul was ''Operation Chromite''.

But then the PR guys got their hands on it.

By the 21st century we were getting dramatic titles like ''Desert Storm'' (the 1991 Gulf War), and then aspirational ones like ''Operation Iraqi Freedom''.

So it was only natural, when Saudi Arabia decided to bomb the Houthi rebels who had taken over most of Yemen, to name the operation ''Decisive Storm''.

That sounds nice and decisive, and stormy too.

And when the Saudi military spokesman, Brigadier-general Ahmed al-Asiri, announced on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia was calling the bombing campaign off after one month and 2415 bombing sorties, he naturally claimed it had been a decisive victory.

The bombing had destroyed 80% of the Houthis' ''transport lines'' (colloquially known as ''roads''), and they had also knocked out all of the rebels' ballistic missiles.

Ballistic missiles?

Yes, the Houthis had captured a base outside Sana'a that was home to some Scud B ground-to-ground missiles (range 300km, vintage 1965), although they might not actually fly after half a century of Yemeni-style maintenance, and they could barely reach the country's own borders if they did.

Anyway, the Saudi Arabian Air Force took them out, so we can all rest easier now.

A Saudi billionaire has even promised to give each of the 100 Saudi pilots involved in the bombing campaign a Bentley (sort of a down-market Rolls-Royce) in gratitude for their efforts.

Moreover, said Brig-gen al-Asiri, the Houthi militia was no longer in a position to harm civilians.

He didn't actually say so, but you would assume from the context and his manner that Yemen is now at peace, and the Houthis have all gone home to their own tribal territory in the north of Yemen, and Yemen's legitimate president is safely back in Sana'a, the capital.

What's that?

The legitimate president is still in exile in Saudi Arabia?

And the Houthis haven't gone home either?

They still control most of Yemen right down to Aden.

And the remainder of the country is now ruled by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, except for the bits run by its even nastier Islamist rival, IS.

How is that a victory?

Have some pity for poor Brig-gen al-Asiri.

He had to say something positive; he works for the Government.

But the one scene that defines the event was a television studio in Sana'a where a Yemeni news anchor man was running a clip of Brig-gen al-Asiri's speech.

When the anchor man comes back on the screen and picks up his script, he can't say anything.

He's trying to, but he's corpsing.

He giggles, he snorts, he fans himself with his script, he puts his head on the desk, he completely loses it.

And then the people behind the camera start laughing too.

This is known in PR-speak as ''abject failure''.

When you are trying to convince your audience that your bankruptcy was actually a canny tactical move, you do not want them to collapse in hysterical laughter.

What can have possessed Saudi Arabia to launch this foredoomed aerial campaign, and rope in practically every other Sunni Arab state to send a few planes along to help?

Mostly, it was simple paranoia.

The Saudi Arabian authorities have convinced themselves the ''Shias'' (by which they usually mean Iran) are on the offensive, and gobbling up any Arab territories where they can find fellow Shias.

The Houthis are Shias.

QED.

There was a lot of talk about Iran supplying arms to the Houthis at the start of the bombing campaign, and the Saudis managed to get almost every other Sunni Arab country to send a couple of planes along to help.

At the end of it, Brig-gen al-Asiri didn't mention the Iranians at all.

Maybe they all went home (although it would be hard to leave with all the airports shut and the coast under naval blockade).

Or maybe they were never there.

Bigger countries have made bigger mistakes and paid quite small prices: the United States invasion of Iraq, for example.

Saudi Arabia won't pay a big price either, for it appears the grown-ups in Riyadh have intervened after a month and turned the military machine off.

No follow-up ground invasion, just a smooth transition to ''Operation Restore Hope'', the humanitarian aid they would have provided after they'd won, if they had won.

Saudi Arabia is well out of it, and as outcomes go, it's less bad than many.

Just a bit of advice.

Stop using those American-style names for operations.

When the United States started using them is when it started fighting dumb wars, and losing them.

STOP PRESS: On Wednesday, the Saudis started bombing again, but just a bit, they said. Oh, well ...

• Gwynne Dyer is an independent London journalist.

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