Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have demonstrated their growing military capabilities in recent weeks, repeatedly striking Saudi Arabia’s main international airport hundreds of miles away and seizing territory inside Yemen near a key shipping chokepoint.
Repeatedly over the past decade, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Britain and Israel have carried out punitive air raids against the rebels – only to see them grow even stronger.
READ MORE: Saudi diplomat says Iran encourages escalation of Houthi attacks on kingdom
The Saudis have struggled to counter the latest attacks, even with far superior weapons supplied by the United States. A senior Saudi diplomat told reporters this week that Iran was encouraging escalation and that over the summer the Houthis rejected an offer to negotiate.
The Houthis operate across vast mountainous territory where they can disperse fighters and military infrastructure while threatening key oil installations and trade routes.
Iran and its allies in Lebanon and Iraq provide expertise, training and sophisticated weapons, according to the U.N. and other experts. A recent report reveals that the Houthis have attempted to source parts used to make precision-guided ballistic missiles with a range of about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) from Chinese suppliers.
The rebels are becoming better and better armed
The Houthis already have a wide array of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones – many of which resemble Iranian designs – that can reach all Gulf states as well as Israel. They have also used sophisticated anti-ship missiles and naval drones to strike ships in the Red Sea, threatening a crucial trade route.
Iran denies arming the Houthis, which would violate a UN embargo. China has not directly responded to the latest report but says it has a “cautious and responsible” approach to military exports.
Smuggled Iranian weapons and parts have been seized in numerous shipments to Yemen, and a 2024 UN expert report documented extensive military ties between the Houthis, Iran and its other allies.
READ MORE: Iran-backed Houthis strike headquarters of Saudi oil company Aramco, officials say
This report estimates that the Houthis will have recruited up to 350,000 fighters by 2024, up from just 30,000 in 2015, when Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war against the Houthis and imposed a naval blockade.
The Houthis can use relatively inexpensive drones and missiles to target oil and other infrastructure just across the Saudi border, as well as oil tankers off the coast. And even though Iran is expected to supply cutting-edge components such as guidance systems, the Houthis can manufacture much of their weapons at home, and at a much lower cost than the cutting-edge interceptors used by the Saudis.
Some suggest they could even use artificial intelligence to try to build better missiles.
Saudi Arabia had difficulty reacting
Saudi Arabia has a range of US-supplied weapons, including sophisticated aircraft as well as advanced missile defense systems used against Iran at the height of the war last spring.
But with supplies of high-end interceptors under pressure, it is unclear how long it will be able to ward off attacks — not only from the Houthis, but also from Iran-backed militias in Iraq, blamed for an attack that briefly shut down a crucial east-west pipeline for oil exports.
In recent days, the Houthis have repeatedly struck King Khalid International Airport in the capital Riyadh, leading to a wave of flight cancellations. They also hit the headquarters of the national oil company Aramco. Both are several hundred miles (kilometers) from Yemen.
At least 19 people have been killed, classes have been canceled and the disruption threatens the kingdom’s ambitious plans to transform itself into a global hub for business, tourism and sport.
The vulnerable assets are scattered across Saudi Arabia’s sparsely populated territory, which is about three times the size of Texas. Its border with Yemen stretches more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) through rugged desert areas.
Airstrikes had limited effect
The Houthis, a Shiite religious and political movement rooted in northern Yemen, are attacking Saudi Arabia because it supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government in the civil war.
The Sunni kingdom, which has long feared the emergence of a well-armed ally of Shiite Iran on its border, joined the war in 2015 after rebels seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
Over the next seven years, Saudi Arabia carried out waves of airstrikes against the Houthis, often killing civilians. A mix of Yemeni government forces and southern separatists have struggled to push back the Houthis, and the battle lines have moved little ahead of a 2022 ceasefire.
READ MORE: Why the Saudi army struggled to defend the country against Houthi attacks
The following year, after the outbreak of war in Gaza, the Houthis began attacking ships in the Red Sea as part of what they called a blockade of Israel. The US and UK have launched waves of strikes against the Houthis starting in January 2024.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an intensified air campaign early last year, with some 2,000 munitions dropped on more than 1,000 targets, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press at the time.
After weeks of US strikes, the Houthis agreed to stop attacking US ships. But they continued to target Israel, which responded with its own strikes later in 2025, killing the Houthi prime minister and other senior officials and repeatedly hitting a key port.
The Houthis remained largely on the sidelines during the early months of the Iran war, but in July they resumed attacks on Saudi Arabia and declared a blockade on Saudi shipping.
Any lasting defeat would require ground troops
As recent conflicts have shown, air power is rarely effective without ground troops capable of moving and seizing territory after strikes.
In Yemen’s case, the ground fighters facing the Houthis inside the country are deeply divided and clashed as recently as January. These include fighters loyal to the Saudi-backed government and southern separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates – sometimes rivals of the Saudis who withdrew from Yemen in 2019.
The United States, still concerned about Iran, seems to want to stay away. The Saudis signed a mutual defense agreement with nuclear-armed Pakistan and NATO member Turkey in August, but it is unclear what kind of assistance they are prepared to provide.
Diplomatic options are also limited. The Houthis are demanding that Saudi Arabia lift its blockade, which would be an admission of defeat in a long-running war and pave the way for even more Iranian aid to the rebels.
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