Dubai - The Saudi-led intervention in Yemen is aimed at marking the kingdom's territory in the face of Iran's rising regional influence, analysts say, but Tehran could strike back elsewhere.
Backed by a coalition of Arab allies, Saudi Arabia launched air strikes this week against Shia Huthi rebels who had been advancing on President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's stronghold of Aden in southern Yemen.
Hadi fled to Aden last month after escaping house arrest in the rebel-held capital Sanaa, which the Huthis seized last year.
Supported by the West and Sunni Gulf Arab monarchies, Hadi's government has accused Tehran of backing the rebels in a bid to extend its influence in Yemen.
As the main powers on the opposite sides of Islam's Sunni-Shia divide, Saudi Arabia and Iran are vying for influence in countries across the region.
But for the Saudis, the possibility of a Tehran-backed Shia minority seizing control of its southern neighbour was cause for enough concern to move beyond rhetoric and proxies, analysts say.
The intervention was "a last-minute move to prevent Yemen from becoming an Iranian colony," said Antoine Basbous, head of the Paris-based Observatory of Arab Countries.
"The kingdom had no choice but to intervene," said London-based analyst Abdelwahab Badrkhan, adding that the intervention marked a "revival" of Saudi influence among Gulf Arab states, who have increasingly been charting their own path.
Saudi fears of a pro-Iran Yemen are shared by its fellow Sunni Arab nations, in particular Egypt whose air force and navy are taking part in the operation.
AFP
