Sputnik News- US moves to expand military support for Saudi and Gulf Arab Emirate forces carrying out air strikes against Houthi rebels could topple Yemen into a famine threatening millions of lives, analysts told Sputnik.

US and Saudi support of�the Sanaa government�s efforts to�cut off�al-Hudaydah, the fourth largest city in�Yemen with�a population of�400,000 could have rapid and catastrophic consequences, policy director at�Just Foreign Policy, Dr. Robert Naiman, told Sputnik.

�The key short-term danger is that US support of�the Saudi assault and blockade on�Hudaydah will be the thing that tips Yemen into�famine�� as�former US officials have warned,� he said.

According to�published reports, US Secretary of�Defense James Mattis was a hardline hawk on�the issue urging stronger US military support for�the Saudis and increased Saudi-led coalition bombing against�the Houthis, Naiman noted.

�The Trump Administration has been divided on�whether to�go forward with�what Mattis wants. A bipartisan group of�members of�Congress is weighing in�on the side of�the Trump administration people who are skeptical [about increased US involvement],� he said.

Trump campaigned successful in�2016 on�ending US widespread involvement in�wars across�the Middle East and elsewhere. However, Trump also pledged to�intensify the fight to�destroy Daesh.

California State University Professor Emeritus of�Political Science Beau Grosscup told SputnikTrump�s determination to�escalate the war in�Yemen revealed the confusion of�his policymaking and strategy.

Recent developments provided �further evidence of�the contradictory� nature of�US policy: Support Sunni-Saudi-terrorism in�Yemen, while fighting alongside�Shi�a Iran [groups] in�Iraq,� he said.

Trump, like�President Barack Obama before�him was passively accepting whatever the Saudis and his own most hawkish generals demanded of�him, regardless of�the risk or cost, Grosscup pointed out.

�It is the cornerstone of�US War of�Terror. In terms of�US policy toward�Saudi-Arabia: ask and you shall receive and even if you don't ask, we will provide,� he said.

Grosscup condemned this approach as�already morally and politically bankrupt and certain to�provoke and motivate a new wave of�extremists to�strike back at�the United States and its allies.

�The very real danger is more future reminders that revenge is not a one way street by�means of�terrorist attacks� against�US and the other industrial capitalist perpetrators of�state terrorism who are betting they can win a war of�attrition by�means of�their technological superiority,� he said.