'Few cards to play': Saudi Arabia faces limited options against Houthis with allies out

'Few cards to play': Saudi Arabia faces limited options against Houthis with allies out Submitted by Sean Mathews on Wed, 09/16/2026 - 14:11 Saudi Arabia is reticent to return to full-scale war with the Houthis alone as allies from US to Turkey step aside Saudi security forces take part in a military parade in preparation for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on 21 May 2026 (Ibrahim Abu Musafa/Reuters) Off For months, Saudi Arabia appeared fairly insulated from the war on Iran even as it engulfed smaller neighbours.

In fact, Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s oil company, chalked up bumper profits this summer thanks to its East-West Pipeline, allowing crude exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, the East-West Pipeline is disabled because of a drone attack from Iran-aligned militias in Iraq. Houthi missiles and drones are hitting Saudi Arabian cities.

A Houthi drone was even shot down over Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, whose custodianship is a point of legitimacy for the House of Saud. The Houthis have denied targeting Mecca.

Saudi Arabia now faces a two-front war. Its allies in Yemen are trying to beat back a Houthi offensive while the kingdom fends off missile and drone attacks at home.

The timing of the Houthi blitz is especially bad for Saudi Arabia because the supply of US-made interceptors - which are the backbone of its air defence arsenal - is running low globally.

The US, whose security umbrella Saudi Arabia placed itself under after WWII, is resigned. “The Houthis called us, and they don't want to fight with us,” US President Donald Trump said over the weekend.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the US held a meeting with Houthi officials brokered by Oman.

Saudi Arabia attempted to expand its defence partnerships, partly in response to the tumult unleashed by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

But like the US, the kingdom's new allies have shown no appetite to get into a fight with the Houthis, who have shown a tremendous capacity to absorb battlefield pain and fight on.

Turkey and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia’s new joint defence partners under the Mecca Pact, are nowhere to be found. “Saudi Arabia is in a huge bind right now.

They are pretty alone,” Neil Quilliam, an expert on the Gulf with Chatham House, told Middle East Eye. “The US isn’t there.

The Mecca Pact states haven’t shown up. They have few cards to play. ” Does Saudi Arabia have a Yemeni fighting force?

The Houthis' rapid advance along the Red Sea coast put them in control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait - the chokepoint for Saudi Arabian crude flowing to Asia.

The Houthi attack on the East-West Pipeline also endangers oil shipments to Europe. The Houthis are now pushing to take Taiz and Marib, two strategic cities in Yemen’s hinterlands.

If they fall, it would be disastrous for the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government of Yemen. 'Saudi Arabia sees itself as an emerging middle power.

They can’t afford to just give in to Houthi terms' - Neil Quilliam, Chatham House Saudi Arabia, which does not want to commit ground troops, has few dependable allies on the ground in Yemen.

The National Resistance Forces, a militia previously backed by the UAE and holding Yemen's Red Sea coastline, melted away during the Houthi advance.

"The problem for Saudi Arabia is that the only Yemeni forces who appear really capable of fighting are the Southern Transitional Council (STC)," Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, told MEE.

The STC wants a return to an independent southern Yemeni state. The UAE's support for the STC earlier this year contributed to a major flare-up in ties between the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

"The UAE knows how to fight in Yemen, but they want concessions to come back in. Saudi Arabia views those demands as anathema to its national interest," a diplomat familiar with talks between the two countries told MEE.

'Poking the Houthi bear' On the domestic front, Houthi missile and drone attacks are crippling Saudi Arabia’s oil industry. Saudi Arabia on Tuesday cancelled some oil shipments to Europe.

Loadings at the Red Sea port of Yanbu, where the East-West Pipeline terminates, are suspended.

The attacks also threaten to derail Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s bid to diversify the kingdom’s economy under the Vision 2030 project.

Saudi Arabia is hosting a flagship investment conference next month and is trying to stay focused on investments in AI data centres and tourism.

Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies are responding to Houthi attacks, but the kingdom is not yet involved on the scale it was a decade ago when it spearheaded the intervention in Yemen’s civil war.

Saudi Arabia worked hard to extricate itself from that war. The kingdom's Yemeni allies signed a ceasefire with the Houthis in 2022.

But Saudi Arabia has maintained its blockade on Yemeni ports and airports under Houthi control.

'A return to full-scale ground war offers little that eight years of campaigning failed to deliver' - Hesham Alghannam, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences “This time there is a different approach by Saudi Arabia.

They are conscious of the quagmire Yemen was and all the side effects: international public opinion, arms export licences, etc,” a western official in Riyadh told MEE, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“But in the end, the Saudis really just think the Houthis are crazy and say, ‘do we really want to poke that bear again',” the official added.

Analysts say when the Houthis made their advance down the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia hoped for more support from the US, in part so as not to be seen as acting alone.

Some experts question why the kingdom didn’t deploy its substantial air force to stop the advance, especially along the Red Sea, where the terrain is open and arid.

“I think there was a reticence in Saudi Arabia about how far to be involved without the Americans. That indecisiveness cost them those territories,” Haykel told MEE.

The double-punch against Saudi Arabia-with a drone strike on its East-West Pipeline and a rapid Houthi offensive on the ground is not taking place in a bubble.

The Houthis are part of Iran’s so-called "axis of resistance". While officials in the region say the Houthis pride themselves on their independence, they do coordinate with Tehran.

MEE reported that Iran sent fresh military supplies and advisors to the Houthis over the summer.

Iran was set to meet with Gulf states this week to discuss how to resume shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where it has been attacking ships.

Saudi Arabia was one of the few Gulf states still exporting oil at a substantial level because of its Red Sea outlet.

“The Saudi position now is to try and negotiate with Iran, while being more aggressive with the Houthis,” Haykel told MEE. What concessions do the Houthis want?

While the Houthis control Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and most of its populated landmass, they have seethed under an economic, air and sea blockade.

The 2022 United Nations-backed ceasefire in Yemen envisioned a lifting of those restrictions as the Houthis and the Saudi-backed forces engaged in political talks.

The negotiations never gained traction, and Yemen was effectively a frozen conflict.

Diplomats in the region say the Houthi offensive was in part sparked by the group’s desire to replicate the sort of tolls or fees that Iran is pushing for in the Strait of Hormuz in the Red Sea.

'There was a reticence in Saudi Arabia about how far to be involved without the Americans.

That cost them those territories' - Bernard Haykel, Princeton University The Houthis say their blockade on Saudi Arabian shipping will only be lifted when ports and airports under their control operate freely.

Haykel says Saudi Arabia has a range of military options on an escalation ladder. “The final option, of course, is to pay off the Houthis and buy some short-term peace,” he said.

But Quilliam, at Chatham House, told MEE that giving in to Houthi demands is a serious stretch for Riyadh. “It would look like complete capitulation.

Saudi Arabia sees itself as an emerging middle power. They can’t afford to lose face and just give in to Houthi terms,” he said.

That leaves Saudi Arabia with gradually increasing its military role in Yemen.

'Air campaign 2.0' Experts inside Saudi Arabia say they learned from the last intervention and will not get sucked into a protracted conflict again.

“A return to full-scale ground war offers little that eight years of campaigning failed to deliver, and would threaten the economic transformation that remains Saudi Arabia's central strategic project,” Hesham Alghannam, the director general of the Strategic Studies and National Security Programmes at Naif Arab University for Security Sciences in Riyadh, told MEE.

Can fractured pro-government forces stop the Houthi advance in Yemen?

Read More » “The more realistic path is calibrated military pressure that raises the cost of attacks on Saudi infrastructure, paired with a negotiated arrangement that gives Houthi leadership a face-saving exit,” he said.

Abdulaziz Alghashian, a Saudi security expert and senior nonresident fellow at the Gulf International Forum, told MEE that Saudi Arabia could pursue a “Decisive Storm 2.0,” referring to the military offensive it launched a decade ago.

“We will go back into an air campaign,” Alghashian said. “The Houthis are quite entrenched, and in the near term, it doesn’t seem there is a genuine Yemeni dialogue.

” Alghashian said the main goal for Saudi Arabia now was to “internationalise” the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in order to bolster support for the war among US, European and Arab partners.

In sum, Saudi Arabia’s next move in Yemen will depend on where its allies come down. Yemen War News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0