Saudi Arabia will have to respond to Houthi airport attack - but the choices are stark

Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

As Saudi Arabia reckons with the deadliest attack on its soil in more than a decade, questions swirl over how Riyadh will respond as Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis continue to wreak havoc on the kingdom.

The kingdom launched a major offensive last week to support Yemeni government forces fighting the Houthis, but the rebels have so far held their ground.

Instead, they have escalated their campaign against the kingdom, culminating in Saturday’s missile attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport that killed at least 12 people.

Drawing from Iran’s playbook in its conflict with the United States, the Houthis are vowing a painful escalation, targeting critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and imposing a global economic cost.

The Houthis have longstanding grievances against Saudi Arabia over Riyadh’s decade-long war against the group, which triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The recent Houthi escalation, however, is increasingly seen as an extension of Iran’s conflict with Washington.

After eleven years of trying to contain the Houthi advance militarily and through talks, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his brother, Defense Minister Khaled bin Salman, face limited options. Across the border, the rebels have grown more powerful, consolidating control over major cities and pushing to seize others, such as the densely populated Taiz.

“This threat has to be dealt with once and for all,” Ali Shihabi, an author and commentator on Saudi politics told CNN. “A lot will depend on the performance of the Yemeni government troops on the ground and Saudi is helping them extensively with air power.”

So far , Saudi Arabia has largely confined its role to providing air cover for the anti-Houthi Yemeni coalition, stopping short of any major deployment of its own troops on the ground. Whether that restraint will hold after Saturday’s strike on Riyadh remains an open question.

Sending large numbers of Saudi troops into Yemen would plunge the kingdom into a an expensive and grinding ground war across rugged terrain and undercut the image Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is carefully cultivating of a stable, investment-friendly kingdom and global tourism hub.

Barely two decades ago, the Houthis were little more than a small religious revivalist movement. With Iranian backing, they have since grown into a formidable fighting force in possession of ballistic missiles and capable of striking as far away as Tel Aviv.

“They’ve developed their warfare,” a southern Yemeni official who fought the Houthis for years told CNN. “They’ve gotten more sophisticated in their attacks, they’re persistent and they’ve enhanced their intelligence.”

Yemen’s government alleges that Houthi rebels have worked with Iranian Revolutionary Guard experts to modify missiles into more effective weapons.

The new missiles fly faster and use a thermal-tracking system to home in on any heat source, Majed al-Nazili, spokesperson for the Yemen’s armed forces, said. It remains unclear whether such missiles were used during Saturday’s attack on Riyadh airport.

The Houthis’ pursuit of more sophisticated weapons may now be extending into artificial intelligence.

AI company Anthropic said a group based in northern Yemen used its Claude AI tools to help develop guidance software for rockets and missiles – the systems that steer and stabilize the weapons in flight. The report did not identify those involved, but their location in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen suggests a possible link to the rebels.

Saudi Arabia has sought support from partners across the world to counter the group. France, Britain and Pakistan have committed support, while other allies like Turkey are considering sending help.

Prince Mohammed has also reportedly turned to Syria for help. Its president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, had led armed factions that successfully drove Iranian-backed groups from Syria after nearly a decade of civil war.

Yet Riyadh’s biggest ally, the US, has not supported air strikes on the Houthis, instead sending more than 100 military advisers to provide intelligence under a newly formed joint command.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Last year Washington reached a ceasefire with the Iran-backed group that reopened the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the maritime chokepoint through which global trade flows between Asia and Europe, to US vessels. Prince Mohammed spoke twice with Trump last month , urging him to strike the Houthis, sources told CNN at the time, but the president declined to intervene.

Southern Giants Brigades/Reuters

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“Clearly, direct US involvement via air power would help because US aircraft can respond to US satellite intelligence more rapidly,” Shihabi said. “Saudi aircraft… are one stop removed from that loop so US involvement would be helpful.”

Saudi Arabia, one of the largest countries in the Middle East, remains vulnerable despite procuring some of the most advanced US air defenses. Its infrastructure, which carries rich resources across vast desert terrain, leaves it an easy target for the cheaper one-way drones developed by the Houthis.

Among those killed in the Houthi attack on the Riyadh airport was an American citizen, the Saudi civil aviation body said Sunday – an attack that might draw Trump further into the war.

“The Saudis are good fighters,” Trump told reporters following the attack. “But I think the attack was a terrible thing.”

Asked whether the US will join strikes on the Houthis, the US president said: “We may”

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沙特阿拉伯正努力应对十多年来本土发生的最致命袭击，与此同时，也门与伊朗结盟的胡塞武装继续在沙特王国肆虐，利雅得将如何应对，这引发了诸多疑问。

上周，沙特王国发动了一场大规模攻势，以支持也门政府军与胡塞武装作战，但迄今为止，胡塞武装仍然坚守阵地。

相反，他们加大了对沙特王国的攻击力度，最终导致周六对利雅得哈立德国王国际机场的导弹袭击，造成至少 12 人死亡。

胡塞武装效仿伊朗在与美国的冲突中的做法，誓言要让局势痛苦升级，他们以沙特阿拉伯的关键基础设施为目标，并给全球经济造成损失。

胡塞武装长期以来对沙特阿拉伯怀恨在心，因为利雅得发动了长达十年的战争，这场战争引发了世界上最严重的人道主义危机。然而，胡塞武装近期的升级行动越来越被视为伊朗与华盛顿冲突的延伸。

经过十一年军事和谈判双重努力遏制胡塞武装的推进后，沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼及其兄长、国防大臣哈立德·本·萨勒曼的选择余地已十分有限。在边境另一侧，胡塞武装势力日益壮大，巩固了对主要城市的控制，并正试图夺取其他城市，例如人口稠密的塔伊兹。

“必须彻底解决这一威胁，”沙特政治评论员兼作家阿里·希哈比告诉CNN。“很大程度上取决于也门政府军地面部队的表现，而沙特正在以空中力量大力协助他们。”

迄今为止，沙特阿拉伯的角色主要局限于为也门反胡塞武装联盟提供空中掩护，并未大规模部署地面部队。周六对利雅得的袭击之后，这种克制是否会继续下去，目前仍是未知数。

向也门派遣大量沙特军队将使沙特王国陷入一场代价高昂且旷日持久的地面战争，这场战争将在崎岖的地形上进行，并破坏王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼精心打造的稳定、对投资友好的王国和全球旅游中心的形象。

仅仅二十年前，胡塞武装还只是一个规模很小的宗教复兴运动。但在伊朗的支持下，他们已经发展成为一支强大的战斗力量，拥有弹道导弹，能够打击远至特拉维夫的目标。

一位曾与胡塞武装作战多年的也门南部官员告诉CNN：“他们的作战方式已经发展成熟。他们的袭击手段更加复杂，他们坚持不懈，而且他们的情报能力也得到了提升。”

也门政府声称，胡塞武装与伊朗革命卫队专家合作，将导弹改装成更有效的武器。

也门武装部队发言人马吉德·纳齐利表示，新型导弹飞行速度更快，并采用热成像跟踪系统来锁定任何热源。目前尚不清楚周六对利雅得机场的袭击是否使用了此类导弹。

胡塞武装对更先进武器的追求如今可能已经扩展到了人工智能领域。

人工智能公司Anthropic表示，也门北部一个组织利用其Claude人工智能工具，帮助开发火箭和导弹的制导软件——这些系统负责在飞行过程中控制和稳定武器。报告并未指明涉案人员的身份，但他们位于胡塞武装控制的也门北部，这表明他们可能与胡塞武装有关联。

沙特阿拉伯已寻求世界各国伙伴的支持以对抗该组织。法国、英国和巴基斯坦已承诺提供支持，而土耳其等其他盟友也在考虑提供援助。

据报道，穆罕默德王子也曾向叙利亚寻求帮助。叙利亚总统艾哈迈德·沙拉曾领导武装派别，在近十年的内战后成功将伊朗支持的武装力量驱逐出叙利亚。

然而，利雅得最大的盟友美国并没有支持对胡塞武装进行空袭，而是派遣了 100 多名军事顾问，在新成立的联合指挥部下提供情报。

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

去年，华盛顿与伊朗支持的胡塞武装达成停火协议，重新开放了曼德海峡——连接亚欧大陆的全球贸易咽喉要道——供美国船只通行。据当时CNN报道，穆罕默德王储上个月曾两次与特朗普通话，敦促他对胡塞武装发动打击，但总统拒绝干预。

南方巨人旅/路透社

一系列误判如何导致沙特阿拉伯重启也门战争

“显然，美国直接通过空中力量介入会有所帮助，因为美国飞机可以更快地响应美国的卫星情报，”希哈比说。“沙特飞机……在这个过程中只隔了一步，所以美国的介入会很有帮助。”

沙特阿拉伯是中东最大的国家之一，尽管采购了一些美国最先进的防空系统，但仍然十分脆弱。其基础设施横跨广袤的沙漠地带，运输着丰富的资源，这使得它很容易成为胡塞武装开发的廉价单程无人机的目标。

沙特民航局周日表示，在胡塞武装袭击利雅得机场的事件中丧生的人员中有一名美国公民——这次袭击可能会让特朗普进一步卷入战争。

袭击发生后，特朗普告诉记者：“沙特人是优秀的战士，但我认为这次袭击非常可怕。”

当被问及美国是否会加入对胡塞武装的打击行动时，美国总统表示：“我们可能会。”