Saudi Arabia Preps 100,000-Troop Offensive on Houthis After US Rejects Direct Airstrike Support, Twice

Since Iran-backed Houthi fighters seized control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait last month, pushing down Yemen's Red Sea coast faster than Saudi-backed forces could respond, Riyadh has been building toward a counteroffensive. That operation is now taking shape, and it's happening without direct American firepower.

According to Reuters, citing six people familiar with the preparations, Saudi Arabia is weighing two options: a narrow strike focused on retaking the strait itself, or a broader campaign hitting multiple Yemeni fronts simultaneously in Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and Al-Jawf. More than 100,000 Yemeni government troops could be mobilized, led on the ground by Yemeni forces and backed by Saudi air power, Reuters reported. That Reuters account is the basis for nearly identical reporting that followed across Ynet News, the Times of India, Ground News and UNN.

Timing is still up in the air. Sources told Reuters the launch could come within a week or get pushed past the US midterm elections in early November 2026. Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told Reuters he expects something far more limited than the 2015 Saudi-led intervention in Yemen: "Ideally, it would be a fairly limited operation to retake coastal areas and get back to normal maritime traffic."

Washington says no, again

Saudi Arabia asked for direct military support and didn't get it. Axios reported that Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to brief him on the operation and specifically requested US airstrikes to cover the ground assault. The request was rejected. An administration official told Axios the US "is not going to take kinetic action for now." This marks the second time in a few weeks Washington has turned down a direct Saudi request for military help, per Axios.

It's a notable restraint given how close the US reportedly came to jumping in. Axios noted that about a week before this latest rebuff, President Trump was said to have been close to ordering US military support in the Yemen theater before deciding against it at the last minute.

The administration isn't walking away entirely. One US official told CNN that Washington believes it's already giving Saudi Arabia everything it needs to succeed, pointing to increased intelligence sharing and targeting support. The Saudis, for their part, had assured US officials after roughly a decade of training Yemeni government forces that they were confident in their own capability, two sources told CNN.

The attacks that forced the issue

The push for a counteroffensive follows a string of Houthi strikes that rattled the Saudi capital directly. CNN reported that air raid alerts sounded across Riyadh for the first time since the escalation began in July, after the Houthis claimed to have hit "sensitive" sites in the city along with an Aramco facility in Yanbu with missiles and drones. Reuters video showed black smoke near Riyadh's main airport, though CNN noted it was unclear what caused it, and there were no reports of casualties or damage. A separate automated market desk, indy.finance, flagged that neither Aramco nor Saudi officials had confirmed any damage to processing or export capacity, meaning the claimed strike hasn't moved oil markets.

The Houthis also say they shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet, and Saudi officials have accused the group of targeting Mecca, Islam's holiest city. Pakistan's top Muslim cleric, speaking at a conference in Saudi Arabia, said the Houthis have "no connection whatsoever to Islam," a comment that underscores how the Sunni Gulf states and Shiite Iran-aligned Houthis are framing this as a sectarian fight as much as a territorial one.

Outside military support is trickling in from US allies, not the US itself. According to Ground News' synthesis of regional reporting, Pakistan and Turkey have supplied military equipment to the Saudi-led side, while France is sending defensive systems to protect the Red Sea port city of Yanbu.

Questions about combat readiness

CNN's reporting raises a hard question: whether Saudi Arabia can stop the Houthis on its own. Sources told CNN they doubt it, and the weaknesses of the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces were well known to former diplomats long before this offensive was planned. The Times of India, drawing on the same Reuters sourcing, describes the Yemeni force structure as fragmented, raising real doubts about whether it can sustain organized combat against a disciplined Houthi military.

A 100,000-man force on paper means nothing if it's a patchwork of militias without unified command, and a botched offensive could hand the Houthis an even bigger propaganda win than the one they got last month. Nobody in these reports, including Saudi officials themselves, is claiming otherwise.

The strategic stakes are clear. Bab el-Mandeb has become critical this year because the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed by the broader conflict with Iran, per CNN and Reuters' reporting, making the Red Sea route one of the only remaining corridors between Asia and the Mediterranean. Riyadh has concluded, per Western diplomats cited by Reuters, that peace talks with the Houthis are pointless while the group holds that chokepoint. Whether a Yemeni force that couldn't stop the Houthis in September can take it back in November is the question nobody, including the Pentagon, is willing to bet American lives on answering.