Houthis Have Raided Saudi Border Posts in Recent Months, Western and Arab Officials Say

The Houthi war on Saudi Arabia may have moved onto Saudi soil. A western official and an Arab official with direct knowledge of the raids told Middle East Eye that the Houthis have carried out multiple cross-border ground raids in recent months.

The targets were border posts in Saudi Arabia's rugged southwest. At least one raid happened at the end of October, the officials said.

The western official said the Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, appear to have seized small arms used only by Saudi border security forces. The end-of-October raid was also picked up on surveillance equipment, the official added.

The raids have not been publicly reported, and the account rests on those two unnamed officials. If accurate, they would mark a return of ground attacks inside the kingdom since the 2022 truce collapsed. Before that truce, Saudi Arabia regularly reported Houthi attempts to infiltrate its territory, including ground raids on border cities and army bases.

A widening air campaign

The reported raids follow weeks of missile and drone fire. On Monday, Nov. 2, coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile fired toward the kingdom's southern region. He gave no target and reported no casualties.

Al-Maliki's office has said in recent days that it intercepted several ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh and eastern Saudi Arabia, plus drones launched toward the south.

The Houthis claimed a much larger barrage on Thursday, Oct. 29. Military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group fired six missile and drone attacks. He said three ballistic missiles went at the Ras Tanura refinery, Saudi Aramco facilities at Abqaiq, and the Rabigh refinery on the Red Sea coast.

Sarea said two more operations targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam. He claimed the drone strike on Dammam disrupted air traffic. A sixth strike, he said, hit a Saudi military command center in Najran near the southern border and caused casualties among soldiers and officers.

Those are Houthi claims. The coalition said that day that Saudi air defenses intercepted three Houthi ballistic missiles, two headed for Riyadh and one for the Eastern Province. No independent confirmation of damage at the refineries, airports or Najran has been presented.

Sarea said the attacks answered recent Saudi strikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen. The Houthis separately said 27 people were killed in Saudi airstrikes on those areas.

The ground war inside Yemen

The cross-border raids are unlikely to shift the balance of power in Yemen itself, according to the report. Saudi-backed government forces there are struggling to contain a Houthi offensive.

Reuters reported Monday that Houthi forces have advanced to within 50 miles of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government. The group has also encircled Taiz.

Mohammed al-Basha, founder of the Basha Report Risk Advisory and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said he has been tracking Houthi activity along the Saudi border. He said the group is "gradually expanding the range and intensity" of its attacks.

"The initial phase involved long-range drones and short-range ballistic missiles. The second phase introduced short-range quadcopters that drop mortar munitions, as well as sniper operations," al-Basha said. He called ground raids "only a matter of time" and expects them to resemble the early years of the nearly 12-year war: hit-and-run attacks, captured coalition personnel, seized weapons and destroyed vehicles.

Allies move in

Riyadh is lining up outside help. Turkey and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia's partners in the Mecca Pact, have said they plan to deploy forces, including air defense batteries, to the kingdom. Egypt's parliament approved sending defensive forces to Saudi Arabia last week.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Saturday that Damascus is considering joining the pact. The western official told Middle East Eye that some Syrian drone specialists have already arrived in Yemen to assist Saudi-backed forces.

The Arab official said Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish military assistance would likely prove valuable along the southern border.

Economic fallout

The fighting is already costing the kingdom. The Asian Football Confederation said Tuesday, Nov. 3, that it is postponing the AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia until late 2027. The AFC cited "exceptional circumstances arising from developments in the region" and "substantial logistical complexities and travel disruptions."

Bloomberg reported that dozens of major international events planned for September, October and November have been suspended or postponed. That undercuts Riyadh's push to become a global host for major events.

It is unclear whether Saudi Arabia will publicly acknowledge the border incursions. A confirmation would show how far Houthi forces can reach on the ground, just as Turkish, Pakistani and Egyptian forces prepare to deploy to the kingdom.