The legal and political justifications for the KSA intervention in Yemen and the Iranian intervention in Syria between 2015 and 2020.

Abstract

The competition between the KSA and Iran began after 1979 when Iran changed from being a secular country into a revolutionary Islamic one. Since then, each country has mobilized different tools to counter the other. While Iran depended on proxy groups like the al-Houthis and Hezbollah, the KSA resorted to supporting national armies, as it did in Lebanon. From another perspective, a debate has arisen around the legality of the Iranian intervention in Syria and the Saudi intervention in Yemen. While most analysts believe that the Saudi intervention in Yemen is legal, as it came at the request of the Yemeni government, the Iranian intervention cannot be legal, as Iran has never been officially invited into Syria. Eventually, the competition between the two countries impacted on regional security and pushed all countries to adopt a set of policies for the sake of restraining the other side’s influence.