--- title: Saudi King Abdullah Dies, Yemen Government Collapses description: A smooth succession after King Abdullah's death in Saudi Arabia won't help imperiled U.S. allies in nearby Yemen. canonical: https://time.com/3679665/king-abdullah-saudi-arabia-yemen/ author: Massimo Calabresi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-23T03:40:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:04.443Z article:section: Politics og:title: On Arabian Peninsula: Two Deaths, One Big Problem og:description: A smooth succession after King Abdullah's death in Saudi Arabia won't help imperiled U.S. allies in nearby Yemen. og:url: https://time.com/3679665/king-abdullah-saudi-arabia-yemen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt244eba7166609395/69877b78428a9e2f66cc6bc6/king-abdullah2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah receives U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the king's Riyadh Palace on April 6, 2011 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: On Arabian Peninsula: Two Deaths, One Big Problem twitter:description: A smooth succession after King Abdullah's death in Saudi Arabia won't help imperiled U.S. allies in nearby Yemen. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt244eba7166609395/69877b78428a9e2f66cc6bc6/king-abdullah2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Saudi Arabia's Neighbor Is the Real Concern for the U.S. ## Video: Meet Saudi Arabia's New King [Watch (HLS stream): Meet Saudi Arabia's New King](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/78wq34iL.m3u8) (1:03)  _Published 2015-01-23. With the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah came the crowning of King Salman_  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. Jan 23, 2015 3:40 AM UTC  Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah receives U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the king's Riyadh Palace on April 6, 2011 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah receives U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the king's Riyadh Palace on April 6, 2011 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. Jan 23, 2015 3:40 AM UTC King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died Thursday of natural causes at age 90, leaving in place what [appears](http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/saudi-king-succession-hospital.html) to be a well-laid succession plan that U.S. analysts hope will assure continued stable relations between Washington and the oil-rich country that dominates most of the peninsula. Unfortunately, in neighboring Yemen, the government of U.S. ally President Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi also [died](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/world/middleeast/yemen-houthi-crisis-sana.html) Thursday, leaving nothing but the prospect of a failed state and increased sway for Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a powerful and dangerous branch of al Qaeda. On balance, the bad news outweighs the good. Abdullah’s successor, Crown Prince Salman, is an established figure in U.S.-Saudi affairs, with a [history](http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/saudi-king-succession-hospital.html) of collaboration on national security matters dating to his fundraising for the Afghan Mujahedeen during their war against the Soviets in the 1980s, says Bruce Reidel of the Brookings Institution. One of Salman’s sons, Reidel [reports](http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/saudi-king-succession-hospital.html), “led the first RSAF mission against Islamic State targets in Syria last year.” But while oil futures [soared](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-22/oil-surges-after-saudi-media-reports-king-abdullah-s-death.html) on the news of Abdullah’s death as traders worried about potential instability in Saudi Arabia, former U.S. officials viewed the collapse of central governing authority in Yemen as the real cause for concern. “Rule number one of contemporary national security policy is allow the emergence of no new failed states,” says former State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Amb. Daniel Benjamin. The power vacuum is most worrying because it imperils U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism operations against one of the few al Qaeda off shoots that retains the U.S. as its primary target. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has a talented bomb-maker in its upper ranks, a Saudi fugitive named Ibrahim al Asiri. U.S. officials [believe](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2148173,00.html) al Asiri is behind several near-miss attempts to bring down Western airliners, at least one of which was foiled by a Saudi double agent who had penetrated the group. The Houthis are only a threat to the U.S. insofar as they appear to have effected the ouster of the U.S.-backed Hadi and left a collapsed state in his wake. “We were banking on a guy who was very pro-American, but had far less support in his country than we thought,” says Whitley Bruner, a former CIA Baghdad station chief who previously served in Yemen and has worked as a security consultant there in recent years. The Saudis dislike both the Houthis and AQAP, which dispatched al Asiri’s brother in a suicide attack that nearly killed the Saudi Interior Minister in 2009\. But the kingdom has little chance of putting its neighbor back together again: with Yemen’s history of sectarian, tribal and ideological violence, “it’s going to get worse,” says Bruner. AFP [reported](http://www.3news.co.nz/world/yemeni-provinces-to-defy-military-orders-2015012313#axzz3PblMJ6Dm) late Thursday that “four provinces of Yemen’s formerly independent south, including its main city Aden, say they will defy all military orders from Sanaa” now that the capital has fallen to the Houthis. ### Rich Nation, Poor People: Saudi Arabia by Lynsey Addario  Fatima Hazazi stands in front of boxes of medicine she requires monthly to treat her kidney problem at home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Despite the extremely wealthy sector of society in Saudi Arabia, and the the veneer of widespread affluence projected outside the Kingdom, severe poverty is as much a part of life in Riyadh as wealth. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi children play on old furniture outside of the home in which they live in a poor neighborhood in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  One of twelve children living in a house that Yayeh Mussawa rents with his family in South Riyadh. Like many across Saudi Arabia who are living barely above the poverty line, Mussawa's family relies on charity to survive. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudis beg in a line on a street known to locals as 'The Beggars' Street,' in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi children do the dishes in a home in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Selma Saleh, an impoverished Saudi woman, sits on her bed in her home in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Matara stands with her two boys next to a sink without water in her home in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  A young man begs on the street in Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi citizens rest after presenting Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince al Waleed bin Talal, with petitions for his help at a desert camp outside of Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Young Saudi women pray in a friend's home before going out to dinner in Riyadh. Though statistics are difficult to confirm, youth unemployment and poverty are on the rise in Saudi Arabia. While society is increasingly open to women in the workforce, there are still limited jobs in which women and men can work side by side. There are a great number of highly educated Saudis who can not find work suitable for their qualifications. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  A Saudi woman bids on an Arabian Horse at an auction outside of Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi men pray at dusk at a camel market outside of Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudis linger after an auction for Arabian Horses at a club outside of Riyadh. 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