Saudi Arabia is facing a critical decision point in its war in Yemen. The political process to resolve the crisis between Yemen's warring parties is failing. King Salman bin Adbul-Aziz Al Saud will have to decide whether to escalate the war against the rebel alliance or settle for de facto partition of the country. He may choose to dither.

The United Nations-mediated peace talks in Kuwait have been suspended for at least the next month if not longer. While the UN has been careful to leave the door open to the talks' resumption, there is little likelihood of a political breakthrough in the process given the terms of reference for the process created by UN Security Council Resolution 2216. The latter calls for a restoration of the Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi government to power in Sanaa, a demand the alliance of Zaydi Houthi Shiite rebels and the followers of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh refuse to accept.

The Houthis and Saleh formed a council last month to govern the capital and most of north Yemen. This effectively partitions the country between the Shiite-dominated north and east and the Sunni-dominated south and west. It's a messy partition with many flashpoints, such as the city of Taiz, where fighting has never halted despite the reduction in violence this spring that set up the Kuwait dialogue. The rebel alliance has asked the UN to form a transitional government to replace Hadi, but Hadi refused to step aside.

The Saudis have reluctantly backed Hadi and have been unwilling to use their leverage with his regime to move him out. They have enormous leverage, of course, since they and their coalition allies provide Hadi with the funds and arms that keeps his weak government in power in Aden. The Saudis backed Hadi to replace Saleh after the Arab Spring; he is their protege and abandoning him would be embarrassing.