How committed is Biden to the Middle East?

The withdrawal by the Pentagon of an advanced anti-missile system and other air-defence weapons from Saudi Arabia has raised concerns in the kingdom about American military commitment in the Middle East. New satellite images of a section of the huge Prince Sultan air base 70 miles southeast of Riyadh where the American weapon systems had been deployed since 2019 revealed an empty site with no visible activity. The removal of the missile batteries coincides with the Pentagon's decision to relocate some of America’s most advanced weapon systems to the Indo-China region because of the perceived growing threat from Beijing. The images have emerged a few days after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly cancelled a visit by Lloyd Austin, US defence secretary. Austin had been on a Gulf tour to thank allies in the region for their support during the mass evacuation programme from Afghanistan. The Pentagon chief had been due to fly into Riyadh on the fourth day of the trip last week when he received notification from the Saudi government that “for scheduling reasons” his visit was no longer possible. There was no official confirmation from either side that the Saudi change of heart might have been linked to the removal of the American air-defence missiles. The Pentagon sent a terminal high-altitude area defence (THAAD) system as well as several Patriot missile batteries, radars and hundreds of troops to the Riyadh air base in September 2019 after the state-owned Aramco oil processing facility at Abqaiq and oil field at Khurais in the east of the country came under attack by cruise missiles and armed drones. Saudi Arabia’s own Patriot batteries supplied by the US had been facing south to protect the country’s oil sites from attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen. The rebels had fired missiles into Saudi Arabia on many previous occasions following the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen from 2015. The latest attack by the Houthis took place only a week ago. The Saudis intercepted a ballistic missile which fell on a neighbourhood near the city of Dammam, east of Riyadh, injuring at least two children. However, the US concluded that the cruise missiles and drones which hit the Saudi oil plants in September, 2019 came not from the south but from the north and accused Iran, which supports and arms the Houthi rebels, of carrying out the strikes. The deployment of the additional Patriot missiles and, in particular, the THAAD system which can target incoming ballistic missiles at a range of 125 miles and an altitude of around 94 miles, was seen in Saudi Arabia as evidence of the Pentagon’s full commitment to defend the kingdom from Iranian threats. “I think we [now] need to be reassured about American commitment. That looks like, for example, not withdrawing Patriot missiles from Saudi Arabia at a time when Saudi Arabia is the victim of missile and drone attacks, not just from Yemen but from Iran,” Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Saudi intelligence chief and an influential voice in Riyadh, told CNBC. Following publication of the satellite images by the Associated Press, John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, confirmed “the redeployment of certain air defence assets”. However, he said the US continued to maintain tens of thousands of forces “and a robust force posture in the Middle East representing some of our most advanced air power and maritime capabilities in support of US national interests and our regional partnership”. In a clear reference to the US decision to switch key military systems to other parts of the world, the Saudi defence ministry said:”The redeployment of some defence capabilities of the friendly United States of America from the region is carried out through common understanding and realignment of defence strategies.”