EXCLUSIVE: US expands intel, targeting support for Saudi campaign against Iranian ally

Media Centre Of The Yemeni Armed Forces via Reuters

More than 100 US military advisers are on the ground in Saudi Arabia providing intelligence and targeting support to the Kingdom in its military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, multiple sources familiar with the effort say. The assistance comes as fighting on the peninsula intensifies and risks spilling into open war with the Houthis, threatening a second major shipping corridor out of the Middle East.

The US military personnel are working as part of a newly-established joint forces command, which was formed in recent weeks amid signs Iran was ramping up its own efforts to aid Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia, one of the sources, a US official, said. That official put the total at roughly 200 troops.

The presence of US troops assisting Saudi Arabia was described to CNN by five sources familiar with the operations.

The US has helped Saudi Arabia use a targeting tool that allows military officers to see in real-time what is happening on the battlefield, one US official told CNN, comparing it to the Maven system used by the Pentagon. Another source familiar with ongoing cooperation between the two countries also said that the US is providing “geospatial” targeting support to Saudi Arabia for strikes against the Houthis.

However, there are currently tight limits to the US support, the sources say.

The US is sharing intelligence with Saudi Arabia — as it routinely does already — but it is not participating directly in strikes. The US is also not helping refuel Saudi warplanes or providing other operational support, as it has in past fighting with the Houthis.

The effort is instead focused on ensuring Saudi Arabia’s operations run smoothly and professionally, one of the sources said.

All of the sources characterized the effort as an extension of preexisting cooperation and training the US was already providing to Saudi Arabia, a strong regional ally.

A Department of Defense official told CNN that “as a matter of practice we do not comment on intelligence-related matters.” CNN reached out to the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington.

The US support comes amid recent Houthi advances on the peninsula, with fighting in recent days perhaps at its sharpest pitch since 2022. A fragile truce between the Houthis and the Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni government took hold that year, but the country has remained effectively split in two since then.

Gallo Images/Getty Images/File

The militia group on Thursday seized a strategic Red Sea port that could allow it to threaten a key shipping waterway, the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, and killed dozens of civilians in a missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia earlier this week.

But hanging over the US effort are the memories of years of controversial targeting support American forces provided to Riyadh during the Obama and first Trump administrations that critics said contributed to a high number of civilian casualties.

Later, in Trump’s second administration, the US launched a months-long campaign against the Houthis in Yemen that ended in an abrupt ceasefire agreement. CNN previously reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Dan Caine, pushed for ending that operation soon after he was confirmed as Trump’s top military adviser over concerns the US lacked a clear exit strategy.

US officials have been closely monitoring the Houthis as the US war in Iran has ground on and threatened to spill over into proxy conflicts elsewhere in the region.

Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

Although Saudi Arabia was initially reluctant to become too deeply involved in the US war with Iran — even refusing to support initial US efforts to escort commercial ships impacted by the that war earlier this summer — the increasingly aggressive attacks by the Houthis have raised US and Saudi Arabian concerns about a second front.

US officials believe there are currently hundreds of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officers in Yemen, working alongside the Houthis with goal of ultimately shutting down the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, one of the US officials told CNN.

CNN previously reported that Iran had been plotting an economic “nuclear option” if negotiations with the US fall apart: getting the Houthis to close that key waterway.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio alluded to intelligence about the IRGC presence in Yemen earlier this week when he told reporters that Iran had a hand in recent Houthi attacks targeting Saudi energy infrastructure, according to one of the US officials.

Still, US forces are already stretched thin after more than six months of fighting in Iran, during which American troops in the region have absorbed repeated missile and drone attacks, long deployments and concerns about munitions. The US military is also focusing most of its attention on operations around the Strait of Hormuz, carrying out strikes against Iranian targets, escorting commercial ships through the waterway and maintaining a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

And there is a deep wariness inside the military of being too closely associated with a Saudi strike campaign against the Houthis — especially if a strike goes wrong and there are civilian casualties, as happened in the past, another US official said.

“This is not the old days,” another of the sources said.

也门武装部队媒体中心（路透社）

据多位知情人士透露，超过100名美国军事顾问已部署在沙特阿拉伯，为沙特在也门打击伊朗支持的胡塞武装的军事行动提供情报和目标定位支持。与此同时，也门半岛的战事愈演愈烈，有可能演变为与胡塞武装的全面战争，从而威胁到中东第二条重要的海上通道。

一位美国官员透露，美军人员隶属于一个新成立的联合部队司令部，该司令部是在最近几周内成立的，此前有迹象表明伊朗正在加大力度支持胡塞武装对沙特阿拉伯的袭击。这位官员估计，参战美军总人数约为200人。

五位熟悉行动的消息人士向 CNN 描述了美军协助沙特阿拉伯的情况。

一位美国官员告诉CNN，美国已帮助沙特阿拉伯使用一种目标定位工具，该工具可以让军官实时了解战场上的情况，并将其与五角大楼使用的Maven系统进行了比较。另一位熟悉两国合作的消息人士也表示，美国正在为沙特阿拉伯打击胡塞武装的行动提供“地理空间”目标定位支持。

但消息人士称，目前美国提供的支持存在严格限制。

美国正像往常一样与沙特阿拉伯分享情报，但并未直接参与空袭。美国也没有像过去与胡塞武装作战时那样，帮助沙特战机加油或提供其他作战支持。

其中一位消息人士称，这项工作的重点是确保沙特阿拉伯的各项业务顺利、专业地运行。

所有消息来源都将此举描述为美国此前已向沙特阿拉伯（其强大的地区盟友）提供的合作与培训的延伸。

一位国防部官员告诉CNN，“按照惯例，我们不对情报相关事宜发表评论。” CNN已联系沙特阿拉伯驻华盛顿大使馆。

美国的支持正值胡塞武装在半岛上取得进展之际，近几日的战斗或许达到了自2022年以来最激烈的程度。胡塞武装与沙特阿拉伯支持的也门政府之间于当年达成了脆弱的停火协议，但此后该国实际上一直处于分裂状态。

Gallo Images/Getty Images/文件

该民兵组织于周四占领了红海的一个战略港口，这可能使其能够威胁到一条重要的航运水道——曼德海峡。此外，该组织还在本周早些时候对沙特阿拉伯发动导弹和无人机袭击，造成数十名平民死亡。

但笼罩在美国努力之上的，是多年来美军在奥巴马和特朗普第一届政府时期向利雅得提供的备受争议的打击目标支持，批评人士称这导致了大量平民伤亡。

后来，在特朗普的第二任期内，美国对也门胡塞武装发动了长达数月的军事行动，最终以突然达成的停火协议告终。此前，CNN报道称，参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军在被任命为特朗普的高级军事顾问后不久，就力主结束这场军事行动，因为他担心美国缺乏明确的撤军战略。

随着美国在伊朗的战争持续进行，并有可能蔓延到该地区其他地方的代理人冲突，美国官员一直在密切关注胡塞武装。

哈立德·阿卜杜拉/路透社

尽管沙特阿拉伯最初不愿过多卷入美国与伊朗的战争——甚至拒绝支持美国今年夏天早些时候为受战争影响的商船提供护航的初步努力——但胡塞武装日益咄咄逼人的袭击引发了美国和沙特阿拉伯对第二战线的担忧。

一位美国官员告诉 CNN，美国官员认为目前有数百名伊朗革命卫队军官在也门，与胡塞武装合作，其最终目标是封锁连接红海和印度洋的曼德海峡。

CNN此前报道称，如果与美国的谈判破裂，伊朗一直在策划一项经济上的“核选项”：让胡塞武装封锁这条关键水道。

据一位美国官员透露，国务卿马可·卢比奥本周早些时候告诉记者，伊朗参与了胡塞武装最近针对沙特能源基础设施的袭击，他当时暗示了有关伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队在也门存在的情报。

尽管如此，在伊朗持续六个多月的战斗之后，美军兵力已捉襟见肘。在此期间，驻伊美军遭受了反复的导弹和无人机袭击，长期部署，并面临弹药短缺的担忧。美军还将大部分精力集中在霍尔木兹海峡周边的军事行动上，包括打击伊朗目标、护送商船通过该水道以及对伊朗港口实施海上封锁。

另一位美国官员表示，军方内部对与沙特打击胡塞武装的行动联系过于紧密深感担忧——尤其是如果打击行动出错并造成平民伤亡，就像过去发生的那样。

“时代已经变了，”另一位消息人士说。