OK, this time around I'll keep things short because there's too much going on and things are moving too fast. Conflicts in the 'middle east' have likely gained too much inertia to be stopped, and old 'cold wars' and minor skirmishes are very close to becoming kinetic.
The short version is that the war between KSA and Yemen has reached a new level, and that certain parties (mostly KSA and israel) see this as an opportunity to expand and redirect the conflict to Iran and its allies.
First, let's break down the new rules of KSA vs Yemen:
1. Yemen (ie. 'The Houthis', Ansar Allah in media) has been working with Hezbullah on missile and drone development, tactics, strategy etc.. We can see that their tactics and operations have become very similar. Contrary to the KSA/western media line that the weapons used 'are too advanced to have come from Yemen', Yemen has been building these weapons indigenously for the last 1-2 years and have been using them to great effect against anti-air defences and oil infrastructure over the last 6 months or so. They've actually held conferences showing off their missiles and drones; I might add links later.
2. The most recent strike that cut Saudi oil output in half (which has since been repaired) was largely a demonstration that continued attacks on Yemen would fast become too expensive to maintain. According to several sources familiar with oil extraction/refining, the targets hit were largely just storage units that were large but not mechanically complicated and not difficult to replace (aside from logistics). If they had intended to completely rubble KSA's oil production capability there were many other high-tech targets available that would require custom-made parts and would completely halt production at the facility for a matter of months.
3. Even though capacity has been restored, mass media appears to be completely disregarding the incident as a product of the KSA-Yemen war and is instead reporting it as an attack meant to destabilise the oil economy. According to their logic, the only country who would want to do that is Iran.
4. Neither the US, nor KSA nor israel wants to accept that the attack was planned and launched by Yemenis. On the part of the US, KSA has been spending over $60 billion a year to arm and protect them against such attacks and the fact that $800,000 (a single missile! launcher and radar set sold separately) PAC-3 PATRIOT missiles could not stop drones made in one of the poorest countries in the world threatens the arms trade the entire US economy is built on. On the part of KSA, they refuse to admit it but they must know that the war on Yemen is over and unwinnable - their only hope to put their puppet-president back on the throne is to draw in foreign powers, and the most effective way to do that is to invoke the regional bogeyman. israel, as we all know, has had a hate boner for Iran since its inception and jumps at any excuse to have foreign 'allies' attack it.
So that's where we are with Yemen - everyone blaming the attack on Iran and claiming they want to destroy the world oil economy.
Keep in mind that if there is to be a war launched against Iran, the first attacks are very unlikely to be against Iran itself - israel fears Hezbullah most, largely due to the spanking they took in the 2006 war. If the empire intends to attack Iran, the first targets will be Lebanon and Syria, and everyone involved appears to be fully aware of this.
Lebanon, for its part, has backed Nasrallah (Hezbullah's leader) in closing airspace to israeli aircraft. Up until recently israeli drones and jets have been able to enter Lebanese airspace with impunity, but following recent drone attacks Hezbullah has been given the order to attack any israeli craft in the skies over Lebanon. They've already claimed they've downed several drones.
In Syria, rumours abound that Russia has closed airspace to israel, in one incident intercepting an F-35 with their own SU-35s. This hasn't been officially verified by the israeli or Russian government, but media on all sides has reported on it citing 'anonymous sources' so it's safe to assume Russia has taken a more active stance in preventing israeli airstrikes. This makes sense now, as it's the perfect time for them to stir up more trouble and potentially incite US attacks on Syria, which would throw open the gates.
