Saudi Media Releases Propaganda Film Showing Invasion Of Iran

It’s been a little over three weeks since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) called the Supreme Leader of Iran “the new Hitler of the Middle East”, escalating the war of words and ultimately launching the next leg up in the infowar between both countries.

And now the Saudi media, building on that rhetoric, just published a powerful short 3D-animated film depicting the Saudi military invading and conquering Iran.

Al-Riyadh newspaper on Friday said the video called “Saudi Deterrent Force”- was created by “young people from Saudi Arabia”, which it “depicts reality and the prestige of the Saudi Armed Forces” invading Iran by air, land, and sea.

Further, Al-Riyadh noted, “the 5-minute film tells the operational reality of how the Saudi armed forces” plan to use advanced technologies from the United States, such as weapons, aircraft, ships, and tanks in an upcoming operation against Iran.

The film “Saudi Deterrence” not only revealed the defensive power of Saudi Arabia, but went beyond the detection of strategic missile system “East Wind”, which exceeds the range of 12 thousand kilometers, and can thus reach the Iranian military bases and nuclear reactors, F15, Taifon, Tornado and AWACS, as well as strategic Abrams tanks, high-armed naval frigates and the Air Defense System of Patriot batteries  

Meanwhile, The New Arab said the short film has been widely “mocked” on social media as nothing more than propaganda from MbS. The film shows MbS in a control room orchestrating air, land, and sea missions, while the military has very little resistance against Iranian troops. At the end, the film shows the Saudi army taking control of Tehran, where the Iranian civilians are thanking the Saudis for the liberation.

A furious tweetstorm was unleashed on Twitter after the video was published on YouTube. One Twitter user said, “In the delusional world of Saudi Arabia, Saudis invade Iran, take over the country and are greeted as liberators by Iranians who hold MbS posters. You can’t make this shit up. Try not to laugh,”

In the delusional world of Saudi Arabia, Saudis invade Iran, take over the country and are greeted as liberators by Iranians who hold MBS posters.

You can"t make this shit up. Try not to laugh. pic.twitter.com/9rOSoPVsJu

— Serge (@Zinvor) December 17, 2017

Another user said (translated in Bing), “Fail and you still nfshlon in Yemen in the face of the resilience of the people and their resistance in the face of aggression and your siege you and with you, and you think you are able to make a victory over Iran? Finished with the Yemen and then just go to Iran if you have capacity and uptime is not actually animated, bin Salman. If you’re brave, offering.”

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— ???? ???? ???? ???? (@Guevara_lb) December 17, 2017

The New Arab describes tension in the region is building between the two countries, especially after the latest missile launch striking Saudi Arabia from Yemen’s Houthis (backed by Iran).

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in a regional battle for dominance being fought by proxies across the region. Last month, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince accused Iran of committing an “act of war” by arming Yemen’s Houthis after a rebel missile reached Riyadh. It provoked a heated war of words with Tehran.

The war drums beat between Saudi Arabia and Iran, however, in the meantime, sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the infowar waged between both countries.

Accused Of War Crimes, Saudis Investigate Themselves And Find No Wrongdoing

Authored by Carey Wedler via TheAntiMedia.org,

Amid international calls for an independent inquiry into Saudi war crimes in Yemen, the Kingdom has investigated itself and found it has done nothing wrong.

Countries including China, the Netherlands, and Canada have pushed forward with a U.N. Human Rights Council draft resolution to establish an independent investigation into Saudi war crimes against civilians in the small war-torn nation of Yemen.

This week, Human Rights Watch also accused the coalition of committing war crimes.

Though these allegations have been circulating and documented for years, little has been done to stop the Saudi attacks, and the Saudis and their U.S. and Arab allies have worked to undermine efforts to uncover wrongdoing.

“The minimal efforts made towards accountability over the past year are insufficient to respond to the gravity of the continuing and daily violations involved in this conflict,” U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein said in Geneva this week.

The U.N. has documented 5,144 civilian deaths, mainly from the Saudi-led coalition.

The Saudis said they did not object to the current push for an inquiry but claimed it was bad timing. According to Abdulaziz al-Wasil, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Geneva:

“We have no objection (to) the inquiry itself, we just have a discussion about the timing.Whether this is the right time to establish an international commission with the difficulties on the ground, and we knew in advance that they will face tremendous obstacles in terms of access.”

In the meantime, the Saudi government has set up its own panel to investigate potential war crimes and misconduct. Reuters reported on the Saudi panel’s findings, noting it concluded that “a series of deadly air strikes largely [was] justified, citing the presence of armed militiamen at the homes, schools and clinics that were targeted.”

Reuters continued:

“The Joint Incidents Assessment Team said on Tuesday it had discovered mistakes in only three of 15 incidents it reviewed, and maintained the coalition had acted in accordance with international humanitarian law. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has long been running the coalition fighting in Yemen as the country’s defense minister, a title he still retains.”

The panel’s legal advisor, Mansour Ahmed al-Mansour, told journalists this week that, in one example, the Saudi coalition struck a water welling drill after mistaking it for a ballistic missile launcher.

However, the Saudis have been criticized for their longstanding pattern of targeting critical infrastructures such as agriculture, warehouses, and hospitals – in far more than just fifteen incidents. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) claimed in early 2016 that the Saudis had attacked hospitals in more than 100 incidents, ultimately scaring Yemenis away from seeking medical help. The coalition has also been implicated in the cholera epidemic that has infected over half a million people since April.

The United States and the United Kingdom are complicit in this targeting of Yemen, which the Saudis view as a proxy war against Iran as they attempt to reinstate a former ruler who was ousted by Houthi rebels, a group they are now fighting. There is minimal evidence that Iran is backing the Houthis.

In addition to arming the Saudis with billions of dollars worth of weapons, which are being used to commit the alleged war crimes in Yemen, the western nations have military officials in the Saudi command room in control of air strikes.

British officials even schemed with the Saudis to paradoxically secure the repressive regime a spot on the U.N.’s human rights council. The U.S. remains a staunch Saudi backer at the U.N., as well, expressing opposition to the independent inquiry introduced this week.

Like the Saudis, the U.S. has brushed off civilian casualties at the hands of their military. In accusing the Saudis of war crimes this week, Human Rights Watch also called on U.S. lawmakers to curb the killing. They wrote:

“So far, the US government has been content to keep the weapons to Riyadh flowing so long as Saudi Arabia pretends it’s been fighting a clean war. But its empty promises have proved devastating – and deadly – for Yemeni civilians.

“Congress should make clear the US is no longer willing to be complicit in Saudi war crimes.”

Lawmakers Demand Trump Pump Brakes On Military Action In Yemen

The letter sent this week came in response to reports that the Trump administration is considering a proposal to directly engage the U.S. military in Saudi Arabia’s war against the Houthis in Yemen, including a planned United Arab Emirates-led attack on the Yemeni port of Hodeida, currently held by Houthi rebels.

“Such an attack could push the country into full-blown famine, where nearly half a million children in Yemen are facing starvation,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who led the letter campaign along with Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).

As Common Dreams reported in March, the U.S.-supported war in Yemen has already led the country to what one journalist described as “the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.”

Furthermore, “Direct U.S. hostilities against Yemen’s Houthis would run counter to your pledge to pursue a ‘disciplined, deliberate and consistent foreign policy’ that protects American families in ‘every decision’,” reads the letter to Trump. “Indeed, according to U.S. defense officials, the U.S.-backed Saudi war against Houthis in Yemen has already ‘strengthened al Qaeda there’ and poses ‘a serious threat to U.S. security’.”

The lawmakers, who garnered 50 additional signatures for their missive, note that “Congress has never authorized the actions under consideration.”

In turn, they write:

Engaging our military against Yemen’s Houthis when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers clearly delineated in the Constitution. For this reason, we write to request that the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) provide, without delay, any legal justification that it would cite if the administration intends to engage in direct hostilities against Yemen’s Houthis without seeking congressional authorization.

As U.S. Representatives, we take seriously the right and responsibility of Congress to authorize the use of force, or to refuse to do so, as mandated by the Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Resolution. We expect that any direct military actions pursued by the administration against the Yemeni Houthis be brought before Congress for consideration and authorization for approval before they are executed.

“President Trump does not have the authority to send U.S. forces to battle the Houthis in Yemen, period,” said Lieu. “Once again, the administration appears ready to ramp up U.S. involvement in a complicated civil war without a clear strategy in place or the necessary authorization from Congress. A unilateral decision for direct U.S. involvement in Yemen would be met by swift, bipartisan opposition.”

The letter, and a full list of signatories, is here (pdf).

Just Foreign Policy, which supported the signature campaign along with other anti-war organizations, is now urging constituents to demand their lawmakers invoke the War Powers Resolution when they return from recess on April 25, “to explicitly prohibit military escalation in Syria and Yemen.”

“I can’t promise you that we can stop this catastrophe,” wrote Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy last month.

“But we used this exact same mechanism less than four years ago and were successful in stopping U.S. military action,” he continued, referring to the 2013 effort to stop then-President Barack Obama from bombing the Syrian government. “Given that the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children hang in the balance, isn’t it worth a try?”

U.S. Travel Ban Puts Saudi Arabia In An Awkward Position

In addition to creating mass chaos in America"s airports and general confusion around the world, Trump"s immigration ban is putting Saudi Arabia, a key ally in the middle-east, in a fairly awkward position.  Per the Wall Street Journal, Trump"s immigration ban, which currently does not include Saudi Arabia, has put the country in the awkward position of having to manage a desire to pursue stronger ties with the U.S. at the risk of alienating key allies, like Yemen and Sudan, that will inevitably view such a move as abandoning Muslim neighbors.

The monarchy’s desire to cultivate a better relationship with the Trump administration than it had with the U.S. under Barack Obama is exposing Saudi Arabia to criticism that it is unwilling to stand up for its Muslim allies, particularly those caught in an executive order that restricts entry to the U.S. for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.

“The ban puts Saudi Arabia in an awkward position,” said Ibrahim Fraihat, a professor of conflict resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. “Saudi Arabia will be expected to take a position against it because some of the countries included in the ban like Sudan and Yemen are key allies and because it projects itself as leader of the Muslim world.”

The ban applies to citizens of Sudan, a member of the coalition of Muslim countries assembled by Saudi Arabia to combat terrorism. Also included is Yemen, where Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in 2015 against Iran-backed Houthi rebels with the aim of restoring President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power. The ban applies to Syrians fleeing their country’s war, too, and Riyadh is a key supporter of Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad as well as his Iranian and Russian backers.

For now, at least publicly, the Kingdom has decided to support the Trump administration"s travel restrictions with the official Saudi Press Agency saying that “the view of the two leaders were identical...the president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts."

“The president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts,” the White House said.

A statement carried on the official Saudi Press Agency said “the view of the two leaders were identical” on issues that included confronting terrorism and extremism, along with countering “those who seek to undermine security and stability in the region and interfere in the internal affairs of other state,” a reference to Iran and to the activities of its regional proxies.

The White House also said they agreed on the “importance of rigorously enforcing” the nuclear deal Iran struck with other world powers including the U.S. in 2015. Mr. Trump and Saudi officials have repeatedly criticized the agreement, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

Ironically, Saudi Arabia has produced more extremists that went on to carry out attacks on U.S. soil than any of the countries directly affected by the ban. Osama bin Laden, the late head of al Qaeda, was from one of the kingdom’s most prominent business families and 15 of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were Saudi. Only Tunisia has contributed more foreign fighters to the Islamic State, according to a 2015 study by the Soufan Group, a security consultancy.

Of course, this all comes as the ACLU is gearing up to fight the Trump administration in the Supreme Court on the basis that the new travel restrictions represent an unconstitutional ban of Muslims in direct violation of the First Amendment. 

Something tells us that Saudi Arabia is wishing that the millions of dollars they funneled to the Hillary Clinton campaign would have been a little more impactful.