Why did Saudi Arabia try to steer the battle with the “Houthis” southward, knowing the destination?

With Sana’a hinting again at the military option to confront Saudi Arabia, Riyadh rushed to steer the battle’s direction by activating the fronts in Al-Dhale, specifically, even though it knows that what Sana’a is proposing points northward, not southward. So why is it deliberately raising the cost of the war in the south?

Exclusive – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

According to a statement by officers and fighters of the Southern Giants, a Salafi current currently divided in loyalty between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, what Al-Dhale’ witnessed in recent hours was nothing more than a Saudi ambush.

Saudi Arabia attempted, according to the statement, to exploit routine skirmishes on the contact lines to push as many fighters as possible from this faction—which still refuses Saudi moves to dismantle it—under the pretext of preventing the fall of a front close to Aden. When they closely examined the situation, they were forcefully pushed to advance without weapons or cover. The sole objective was to eliminate them.

The Saudi move was not limited to forcing southern factions to send reinforcements to the contact lines in Al-Dhale; it was accompanied by a wide media campaign portraying the battles in Al-Dhale as if the city, which is a popular stronghold for its adversaries, was on the verge of falling.

The campaign was not limited to Saudi elites managed by intelligence but also included officials in the Aden government affiliated with the Special Committee, who devoted extensive space to amplifying what was happening in Al-Dhale as if it were doomsday, although the matter, according to the Giants’ statement description, was nothing more than an exchange of fire with light weapons.

These movements reflect, according to experts, a single Saudi goal: Saudi Arabia is trying to steer the battle with Sana’a southward for fear of its compass pointing towards the border or other destinations such as Marib, to which it sent the defence minister of the Aden government to monitor developments. Saudi Arabia, according to what Salah bin Laghbar, a leader in the Transitional Council, believes, seeks to keep the Yemeni parties in a state of continuous attrition, whether in the south or the north, giving it time to impose and pass its agenda.

Saudi Arabia realizes that the war’s compass is now within a stone’s throw, and it knows very well that the target will be broad and sudden. However, it is trying to steer the helm according to its agenda by pushing the war southward, specifically towards Al-Dhale, whose forces it had previously weakened militarily and buried its fighters in the Empty Quarter desert. Nonetheless, it is trying to push the naive remnants of Salafi elements unfamiliar with the Saudi game into the quagmire of a battle whose results, if it continues, are predetermined in favor of the stronger party in the north.