Despite spending hundreds of billions of dollars assembling one of the Middle East’s most powerful militaries, Saudi Arabia has struggled to stop a wave of Houthi attacks.
Day after day this month, strikes have hit targets deep inside the kingdom, including Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, exposing the limits of that vast investment in stark fashion.
Why are the Houthis proving so successful?
Analysts say the Houthis have used a four-year ceasefire with Riyadh to rearm and hone their tactics. For example, they have been using drones to identify gaps in air defences before launching cruise missiles. In doing so, they are drawing on lessons learned by Iran and its allies.
Who are the Houthis, exactly?
They are a Shia religious, political and paramilitary organisation founded in Yemen by Hussein al-Houthi in the 1990s in opposition to then president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was accused of corruption and aligning with the US. As the Houthis sided with Iran, they are part of the “Axis of Resistance” which also includes Iran, Lebanon’s Hizbullah and Iraq’s fundamentalist factions.
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The Houthis have only ground forces. They have no navy and air force although they employ explosive-laden aerial drones, drone boats and domestically-manufactured medium-range ballistic missiles that can reach targets 2,000km and have struck Israel.
Houthi troops grew from about 30,000 in 2015 to 350,000 by 2024. As many have been fighting for multiple years, they are experienced in warfare.
What are the roots of the latest conflict?
Yemen is gripped in a complex conflict fuelled by a domestic power struggle and regional rivalries which have drawn in outsiders, disrupted international shipping and threaten to precipitate global disorder.
The United Nations had imposed a truce which had frozen the war since 2022.
The current confrontation began in July when Saudi Arabia was blamed for bombing Sana’a airport as a flight carrying an Iran-allied Houthi delegation was due to land after consultations in Tehran.
The Houthis responded by declaring a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, and mounted attacks on Saudi oil refineries, tankers and pipelines carrying Saudi oil.
What impact is the resumption in hostilities having on Saudi Arabia?
It had hampered its ability to get its oil to customers at a time oil and gas exports had been reduced due to Iran’s restrictive hold on the Strait of Hormuz where the normal flow of oil last month but storage facilities must be refilled.
What is the Houthis’ objective?
In the near-term, it wants to secure control over all Yemen by seizing territory in the north and west and along the Red Sea coast, including the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Perim Island, and Mocha port.
Control would enable the Houthis to dominate vital global maritime trade routes, project power, and exert economic and political leverage.
In the longer term, it wants to weaken Iran’s chief regional rival, Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s recognised Government.
