{"id":8528,"date":"2026-10-13T21:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T21:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=8528"},"modified":"2026-10-13T21:37:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T21:37:06","slug":"why-saudi-arabia-has-struggled-to-defend-itself-against-houthis-recent-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=8528","title":{"rendered":"Why Saudi Arabia has struggled to defend itself against Houthis’ recent attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Smoke and flames rise from King Khalid Airport, after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they attacked the airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 8, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Social Media via Reuters-Yonhap<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saudi Arabia has one of the world\u2019s most expensive and sophisticated arsenals, filled with American warplanes, missile defenses and other cutting-edge technology.<\/p>\n

But in recent days it has appeared helpless in the face of barrages of missiles and drones fired by the Houthi rebel group from neighboring Yemen. The attacks have struck Saudi airports, killed at least 14 people and forced schoolchildren and businesspeople to stay indoors and work from home.<\/p>\n

The Iran-backed Houthis, once seen as little more than a ragtag militia, have grown into a formidable fighting force. They have inflicted damage on the region\u2019s top oil producer, threatened critical supply routes in the Red Sea and now risk reigniting a full-scale war on the Arabian Peninsula that displaced millions and killed tens of thousands.<\/p>\n

The Houthis are attacking Saudi Arabia because it supports government forces in Yemen the rebels seek to overthrow. As Saudi Arabia investigates how its air defenses failed to stop the Houthis’ attacks, it must also consider how to respond and what the rebels might do next.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know and don\u2019t know about the Saudi and Houthi conflict:<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has a vast arsenal of US weapons<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia is the world\u2019s top purchaser of American weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It says the Saudis received 12% of all U.S. arms exports from 2021-2025.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the Saudis have purchased American F-15 warplanes, Patriot air defense systems, as well as advanced radars and offensive missile systems, according to the think tank, which tracks global arms transfers.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia’s annual budget for 2026 listed $83 billion for military expenditures. Earlier this year, it struck a $9 billion deal with Washington for 730 Patriot missiles.<\/p>\n

But it has a huge area to defend<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Houthis have been able to exploit Saudi Arabia’s large size.<\/p>\n

Vulnerable energy, civilian and military assets are scattered across the country’s sparsely populated territory roughly three times the size of Texas. Its border with Yemen stretches more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) through rugged desert areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpecting a country the size of Saudi Arabia to intercept every missile is simply unrealistic. No defense can guarantee complete protection,\u201d Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst, said in a post online Monday.<\/p>\n

At the same time, regional officials say that Saudi Arabia is running low on interceptors and has reached out to allies for help.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia recently struck a joint defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey. But so far, the two countries appear to be largely staying on the sidelines or limiting their support.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump said this week he is evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes on the Houthis. But he has not yet announced a decision.<\/p>\n

Houthi weapons and tactics are battle-tested<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like their patron Iran, the Houthis have deployed asymmetric warfare for the 21st century by capitalizing on their strengths \u2014 primarily drones and missiles. For the Houthis, success on the battlefield doesn\u2019t require toppling Saudi Arabia; disrupting the Saudi economy and sowing fear within its society may be enough to give the Houthis leverage in any possible negotiations to end the fighting.<\/p>\n

The Houthis have a large arsenal capable of striking targets well over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away. Some warheads change direction during flight and pose an extra challenge to air defenses.<\/p>\n

The group has fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel since its war in Gaza erupted in October 2023. While most were intercepted, a handful managed to land, in one case killing an Israeli man. Another strike hit an Israeli airport last year.<\/p>\n

Andreas Krieg, a professor at King\u2019s College London, said this experience in challenging Israel\u2019s cutting-edge air defenses has given the Houthis confidence and expertise as they now strike Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve learned how to over-saturate the radars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Houthis, working with allied militias in Iraq, have also targeted Saudi oil installations, including a vital pipeline used to export oil through the Red Sea while movement through the Strait of Hormuz is limited. The Houthis have also seized territory in Yemen near the Bab el-Mandeb, a key Red Sea waterway, putting additional pressure on Saudi oil exports.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia appears to have miscalculated<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Ratney, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, says the kingdom assumed the Houthis wouldn\u2019t strike civilian targets like airports. Doing so marked \u201ca paradigm shift,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ratney, now an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Saudis now find themselves in a position where they have to respond while also trying to prevent the fighting from spinning out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t not strike back \u2014 they were attacked in a very brutal way by their archenemies,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need to exert military pressure on the Houthis and then find a way to kind of deescalate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than sending troops into Yemen, the Saudis will likely launch airstrikes against the Houthis and ramp up support of nationalist forces, several analysts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be surrogate warfare,\u201d Krieg said.<\/p>\n

The Houthis are now a formidable force<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the Houthis don’t have the firepower of Saudi Arabia, they have grown into a fearsome force controlling roughly one-third of Yemen thanks to help from Iran.<\/p>\n

The United Nations estimates that the Houthis by 2024 had recruited up to 350,000 fighters. That’s up from just 30,000 in 2015, when Saudi Arabia intervened in the internationally recognized Yemeni government’s civil war against the Houthis and imposed a naval blockade.<\/p>\n

Ratney says the Houthis now have a \u201csymbiotic relationship\u201d with Iran and should not be seen as an Iranian puppet.<\/p>\n

The strikes on Saudi airports and economic assets symbolize a sharing of lessons in asymmetric warfare between the Houthis and the Iranians: how to not just puncture expensive air defenses, but also damage vulnerable energy installations and threaten global maritime routes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the course of the past few years, the Iranians have been innovating and sharing that with the Houthis and it\u2019s gone both ways. The Houthis have been innovating, and sharing it with the Iranians,\u201d Ratney said. \u201cIt\u2019s no coincidence that they\u2019ve ended up with a similar approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their recent military successes have made the Houthis feel \u201cuntouchable,\u201d said Farea Al-Muslimi, a fellow at Chatham House focused on Yemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to convince a man he\u2019s going on the wrong side if he just moved forward and he has a gun in his hand,\u201d he said. But the Houthis are now likely to suffer a brutal Saudi counterattack, he said.<\/p>\n

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Smoke and flames rise from King Khalid Airport, after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they attacked the airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 8, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Social Media via Reuters-Yonhap Saudi Arabia has one of the world\u2019s most expensive and sophisticated arsenals, filled with American warplanes, missile defenses and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t