Riyadh--The lights fade and rapid-fire images flash across a large screen to the sounds of war: marching men, the flaming afterburner of a fighter jet, radio traffic and adrenaline-pumping music.
Cue multilingual Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri and his nightly media briefing on Operation Decisive Storm, the Saudi-led coalition which began air strikes against Shiite militia in neighbouring Yemen on March 26.
In a highly conservative Islamic kingdom, where cinemas and alcohol are banned, women are not allowed to drive and they must dress from head to toe in black, this is an unusual display of public relations.
It coincides with a more forceful Saudi foreign policy under King Salman, who ascended the throne in January.
"They clearly have learned their lessons from the Americans, there can be no doubt," one Western diplomatic source said of Riyadh's media strategy and operations in the field.
In the Vietnam War, sceptical journalists dubbed daily press conferences in Saigon the "Five O'Clock Follies". Such briefings have always been as much about presenting an image as the facts themselves.
The modern version with video and a charismatic presenter was pioneered -- in Riyadh -- by US General Norman Schwarzkopf during the 1990-91 Gulf War, otherwise known as Operation Desert Storm, when American troops were based in the kingdom.
Assiri and the coalition are following in that tradition, and have the help of a Dubai-based public relations firm.
The daily briefings are delivered just after 7:00 pm at the Riyadh Air Base in a red-seated theatre chilled by air conditioning, far from the stench of death and terror of gunfire on Yemen's streets.
AFP
