The Saudi War (voetbal11)

The Saudi War, sometimes known as the third Gulf War, was an armed conflict that lasted from September 2019 to March 2020. It started when Saudi Arabia, where crown prince Salman had just become king after his father's death, invaded Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Later the Saudi army out of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates by an international coalition led by Great Britain.

Background
After the murder of Jamal Khassogi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 Saudi Arabia stood more and more alone in the international community, but they were still supported by the American president Donald Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin. But after the king's death, power went to crown prince Salman, who almost directly decided to invade Qatar and the UAE for their oil. Putin and Trump weren't informed of his plan. On September 12th Saudi tanks rolled over the border and within hours Qatar was occupied. The army of the UAE tried to resist, but was overrun after heavy bombardments by the Saudi air force.

The United Nations condemned the attack but a resolution to be able to act military was vetoed by the United States, what sparked the anger of NATO. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held secret talks with other leaders and they decided to form a coalition without the United States. Russian President Putin assured Johnson that he would not step in, being very angry that he wasn't informed of the plan. On the 11th of September Johnson gave Saudi Arabia an ultimatum of 24 hours to leave Qatar and the United Arab Emirates or face the consequences.

Operation Heavy Rain
After the ultimatum passed the coalition started an air offensive, operation Heavy Rain, against Saudi Arabia, it would become the biggest air offensive sinds Desert Storm in 1991. The British general Houghton, who was in charge of operation Heavy Rain, had put together a very big and modern army consisting of 75..000 soldiers, 4000 tanks, 2000 planes and  130 warships. Saudi Arabia however had a big air force to, and a very big number of ground troops, more than 1 million man. The air campaign was ment to weaken Saudi Arabia and prevent a long an hard battle in the desert.

Very quickly it became clear that the allied air force was rulling the air, they had first bombed Saudi radarstations so the Saudis couldn't see allied planes and Saudi air force was quickly taken out of action. The coalition also bombed strategic targets in and near Riyadh, but they spaired the holy site of Mekka.

After a few days Saudi Arabia launched missiles with nerfgas towards Jordan and Israël. In Jordan, a British base was hit and also the palace of the King, so wasn't present during the attack, was hit. The tree missiles ment for Israël were shot down by Israeli air defense. In revenge, Israël launched a rocket towards Riyadh that hit the Royal palace, but king Salman wansn't present. A day later Saudi troops tried to invade Jordan but clashed with two British tank divisions, the Saudi troops were exterminated. Meanwhile, king Salman was critticly injured after his car was hit by a bomb thrown by the Dutch air force.

Operation Firestorm
American president Donald Trump tried to work out a piece plan. Saudi Arabia agreed, what ment they had to retreat from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The coalition found that the plan was weak and continued their plans. On March 3 British, French and German ground forces invaded Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. While British tanks crossed the Jordan-Saudi border.

The Saudi forces weren't motivated after months of bombardments and they surrendered by thousands. The first line of defense in Qatar was overrun by French troops, the second was trapped between the French Army and the French foreign legion who where dropped behind them and after a short but tough fight chose to surrender. In the Emirates the defenders where determined to hold their positions, what made them easy targets for the German helicopters. The Brits however were the most effective. Three lines of defense were overrun in one day. After one day Qatar was liberated. The Saudi special forces could have made a difference but they were needed somewhere else, a revolution was looming in Saudi Arabia.

On the morning of March 8th the German army marched, after decimating Saudi forces, into the capital of the Emirates, Abu Dhabi. Half of the Saudi army was taken out and that evening king Salman announced that he would immediately retreat from the Emirates. After consulting his colleagues prime minister Johnson announced a cease-fire, after Saudi troops retreated from the Emirates British troops retreated from Saudi Arabia. The peace in the region lasted five years, in 2025 the second Saudi War broke out when king Salman turned out to have a nuclear program.