{"id":2083,"date":"2026-10-03T09:03:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T04:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2083"},"modified":"2026-10-03T09:03:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T04:03:45","slug":"saudis-plan-assault-on-houthis-to-break-red-sea-chokehold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2083","title":{"rendered":"Saudis plan assault on Houthis to break Red Sea chokehold"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered, including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will be led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to six people with knowledge of the preparations.<\/p>\n

While the US is already providing \u200bintelligence to support Riyadh\u2019s operations in Yemen, and some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, the Saudi allies aren\u2019t expected to play a direct role in combat operations, said the people \u200cwho requested anonymity to discuss security matters.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia entered neighbouring Yemen\u2019s civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognised government, which the Houthis had driven out of the capital Sanaa.<\/p>\n

A truce agreed between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis launched missile and drone<\/a> attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.<\/p>\n

A key objective of the planned Saudi offensive, which hasn\u2019t been previously reported, is aimed at reversing the rapid gains made by the Houthis last month when they advanced down the coast and seized control of the \u200bBab El Mandeb strait, according to people with knowledge of the plans who include Gulf and Yemeni officials and Western diplomats.<\/p>\n

The Saudis are considering two possible options for the assault, the Gulf and Yemeni officials said: Either a narrowly focused attack on \u200bthe area around Bab El Mandeb or a broader offensive that also includes other synchronised attacks on multiple fronts around Yemen, in the governorates of Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and Al-Jawf.<\/p>\n

More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could \u2060be mobilised in the offensive, depending on the scale, the officials all said.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the Saudi and Yemeni governments, the Houthi group and the US military didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment about the Saudi plans.<\/p>\n

Bab El Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red \u200bSea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that\u2019s assumed even more importance this year as an alternative<\/a> to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the Iran conflict.<\/p>\n

Riyadh has concluded it cannot enter new Yemeni peace negotiations with the Houthis while the \u200bmilitants remain in control of Bab El Mandeb, giving them significant global leverage, the Western diplomats and Gulf official said.<\/p>\n

The six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations couldn\u2019t give a precise timing for the launch of the offensive, with their estimates ranging from within a week to until after the US midterm elections in early November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered, including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters. The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will be led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to six people with knowledge of the preparations. While the US is already providing \u200bintelligence to support Riyadh\u2019s operations in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}