The Saudi-led military action against the Houthis has averted a civil war, one that would have changed the demographics of not only Yemen but the entire region, said Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa.

“Had it not been for the intervention of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman at a critical moment in history, the shape of the region would have changed for the worse for decades to come,” Sheikh Khalid said in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.

“If the ‘Operation Decisive Storm’ had not come on time, the situation would have been more dangerous and (the insurgents) would have wrested full control of Yemen which means a non-stop civil war,” Sheikh Khalid said, using the codename of the military campaign that Saudi Arabia and nine other Arab states launched in late March in a bid to reinstate the internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

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