Riyadh's bold gamble
King Salman's costly foreign adventures and high-risk interventions are a significant departure from past Saudi foreign policy.
King Salman has instituted the most ideological, sectarian and assertive foreign policy in modern Saudi history. After decades of caution and risk aversion in Saudi Arabia, the king and his senior team have emerged as bold gamblers.
A year and a half after Salman decided to launch Operation Decisive Storm to halt Shiite Houthi rebels from taking over all of Yemen, Saudi Arabia has become engrossed in the most intense sectarian regional conflict with its historic rival Iran to date. Saudi-Iranian tensions are greater today than ever, and the cost to the entire region is deadly.
