„No country can ever have a 100% interception rating, that just doesn‘t really exist,“ Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told CBS News, but that „was a hell of a one to miss.“
Saudi Arabia spent $83 billion on defense last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute — far more than any other country in the Middle East, including Israel.
So why has the kingdom struggled to stop the Houthi barrage?
(October 9, 2026)
Am 8. Oktober 2026 haben die parlamentarischen Beratungen über die Fortsetzung der Beteiligung bewaffneter deutscher Streitkräfte an der von der Europäischen Union geführten Operation European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) Aspides begonnen.
Daten und Fakten
– Die personelle Obergrenze soll unverändert bis zu 350 Soldatinnen und Soldaten betragen.
– Das Mandat soll bis zum 31. Oktober 2027 verlängert werden.
– EUNAVFOR Aspides („Schilde“) ist eine Operation der Europäischen Union. Der Einsatz wurde am 8. Februar 2024 von der EU beschlossen. Die Bundesregierung sprach sich für eine deutsche Beteiligung am 16. Februar 2024 aus und das Parlament gab am 23. Februar 2024 grünes Licht.
– Der deutsche Beitrag zum Einsatz umfasst derzeit Stabspersonal im Hauptquartier im griechischen Larissa, sowie auf dem Führungsschiff der Operation. Darüber hinaus erfolgen regelmäßige Einsatzflüge zur Bereitstellung luftgestützter Seeraumüberwachung und die grundsätzliche Möglichkeit zur Beteiligung mit seegehenden Einheiten.
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Einsatzgebiet
Das Einsatzgebiet von EUNAVFOR Aspides umfasst die internationalen Gewässer im Roten Meer, im Golf von Aden, im Arabischen Meer, im Golf von Oman und im Persischen Golf. Im Bereich der Straße von Hormus gibt es allerdings ein gesondert ausgewiesenes Einsatzgebiet mit besonderen Regelungen. Dort gibt es für Aspides derzeit keine Befugnisse für das Minenräumen oder den Schutz von Schiffen.
„Terrorism targets innocent people and seeks to spread fear and instability. It must be confronted with resolve,“ said Netanyahu in a statement posted to X. „Israel looks forward to a strong Middle East—one that stands united against threats, protects its people, and builds a future of security, cooperation, and prosperity for all the peoples of our region.“
„We may. We‘re gonna look at it,“ Mr. Trump said when asked about the possibility as he left the White House for a campaign rally in Tennessee. „We just found out about the recent attack [on the airport]. So we‘ll make a decision– we move very quickly.“
Mr. Trump was also asked about whether the Houthi strike on Riyadh‘s airport would change his previously announced decision not to launch any potential strikes on Iran until after the midterms.
„Well, we‘re gonna take a look,“ he responded.
Yemen’s Houthis say they carried out Saturday’s missile attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport, which killed 12 people and wounded about 300, some critically.
Military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group launched several operations against the airport, “resulting in the disruption of air traffic at the airport and its complete closure”.
The Saudi Arabia-backed head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, has announced the start of military operations to retake the remaining territory held by the Iran-backed Houthi armed group and restore state authority across the country.
In a televised address, al-Alimi said on Sunday the internationally recognised government’s forces would extend “the authority of the state and its institutions over the entire national territory”.
Loud explosions have been reported in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, while missile, drone and artillery attacks targeted Houthi positions across the country, according to the military.
Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, Yemen’s military spokesman, wrote on X on Saturday that the armed forces are carrying out a military operation “on legitimate vital military targets in Sanaa”, adding that they are “capable of executing strategic attacks against the Houthis”.
More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could be mobilized in the offensive, depending on the scale, the officials all said.
Spokespeople for the Saudi and Yemeni governments, the Houthi group and the US military didn‘t immediately respond to requests for comment about the Saudi plans.
The US sent one additional Patriot battery to Saudi Arabia to protect a key oil facility and another to Qatar to protect a natural gas facility, Axios reported Thursday.
The deployments are notable because Patriot batteries are in high demand worldwide, and the US has a limited supply. The US has just 33 batteries stationed at home and 27 batteries stationed overseas, according to the nonprofit Missile Defence Alliance.
Pakistan sent four cargo planes of armaments to the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government of Yemen in September as the kingdom mobilises to try to push back a sweeping Houthi offensive.
There is another crucial consideration: the Houthis have so far avoided attacking American ships under an understanding reached with Washington.
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the United States remained in communication with the group and said the Houthis had agreed not to fight the US.
A senior Houthi official separately told AP that the group did not intend to target American vessels. Oman-mediated discussions have also reaffirmed the 2025 US-Houthi ceasefire arrangement.
Trump initially resisted launching airstrikes during meetings with advisers Wednesday but later ordered the Pentagon to prepare for military action following a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday, the report said.
The Saudi crown prince urged Trump to intervene directly amid rapid territorial gains by the Houthis in Yemen, according to the newspaper.
The administration did not give a reason for the change of plans. Trump was originally scheduled to depart Camp David later on Sunday local time.
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Trump’s return to the White House came after the US State Department issued an alert to US citizens in the Middle East, warning that hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen have “the potential to escalate rapidly”.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday confirmed that Yemen’s Houthi rebels tried to attack its capital with a ballistic missile, the first targeting of Riyadh since the escalation in fighting with the Tehran-backed rebels that has opened a new front in the Iran war.
The statement by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis came long after the dawn attempt, which the coalition said was intercepted. Some residents in Riyadh heard an explosion. Later, some saw a plume of smoke near the airport. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
The Commission condemns the attacks carried out by the Houthis against civilian targets and economic infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, as well as attacks and threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The Commission expresses particular concern over reports of attempted attacks targeting Makkah and other holy cities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It stresses that holy sites, as well as civilians and pilgrims visiting them, must be fully protected and must under no circumstances become targets of military action.
The Commission further strongly reaffirms the principle of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in accordance with international law. Any action aimed at obstructing or threatening navigation along this strategic maritime route poses a serious risk not only to the littoral States, but also to international trade, global supply chains, energy security and African economies.
The organisation also emphasised that the security of the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb strait was “a major strategic interest for Africa, particularly for the States of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea littoral States”.
The commission joined a number of other states, global organisations, and individuals that also came forward to condemn ongoing attacks.
Fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces and their Saudi backers has killed 63 people in the last 24 hours, AFP reported on Thursday, citing military sources from both sides.
At least 23 government soldiers were killed in missile and drone attacks by the Houthis in two southwestern provinces, a government official said, while Houthi military sources reported 40 fighters killed in Saudi air strikes and fighting on the ground.
Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh strikes across their border on Thursday and Yemenis took to boats in the Red Sea to escape fighting, as the spreading West Asia war created new threats to global oil supplies.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen‘s Houthis said on Wednesday it had shot down a drone south of Mecca a day earlier, before it could enter the restricted airspace over Islam‘s holiest city. The coalition said „the security of the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims is a red line“ and promised deterrent measures against the Iran-backed group.
In der internationalen Berichterstattung wird das Ergebnis überwiegend als militärischer Erfolg AnsarAllahs dargestellt. Ein genauerer Blick auf die von CNN rekonstruierten Abläufe zeigt jedoch ein anderes Bild: weniger einen Sieg der einen Seite als einen aussergewöhnlichen Zusammenbruch der anderen – mit direkter saudischer und US-amerikanischer Beteiligung an diesem Zusammenbruch.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran is “not at war with Saudi Arabia”, as tensions rise over Houthi attacks on the kingdom, Al Jazeera reported.
Pezeshkian said the Houthis have “their own issues”, distancing Iran from the group’s actions.
A 2022 truce had reduced large-scale combat and allowed Saudi Arabia to distance itself from the conflict, but it left the capital under Houthi control and did nothing to establish centralized control over the country and its heavy weapons.
Now, as the Houthis advance rapidly toward government strongholds in the south, Yemen’s military is scrambling to regroup and make progress on its planned offensive in the north. The question now is whether Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and other powers will now intervene to help blunt the Houthis’ rapid advances.
Sultan al-Arada, a member of the ruling presidential council, described the collapse of government forces in the port city of Mocha and elsewhere on Yemen’s west coast as “painful and regrettable”.
Al-Arada, also governor of central Marib province, said in a TV interview that government fighters “are currently regrouping and will return to the battle in one form or another”.
Obock, a city only about 20 kilometres (12 miles) across the water from the Yemeni coast, has for several years been a preferred arrival point for those seeking refuge from war-torn Yemen. The Bab-el-Mandeb strait is also used in the opposite direction by migrants from the Horn of Africa, who transit through Yemen on their way to Gulf countries.
According to reports, their advance is facing little resistance after government-aligned forces withdrew from their positions.
If that continues, it could pave the way for the Houthis to seize more territory along the coast and move closer to Bab al-Mandeb, while increasingly threatening shipping in the crucial Red Sea trade route.
They’ve been battling it out over the past nine days and we knew that the Houthis were trying to push west of Taiz because their main goal, their main prize, was the takeover of the city of al-Makha (Mocha) and also the Red Sea coastline.
It gives the Houthis full advantage to prevent ships from crossing Bab al-Mandeb and also, more importantly, the ability to cut off three main supply lines to the government in the south of the country.
Beginning on Thursday, the Houthis launched an offensive aiming to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
A military official within the government told AFP that the Houthis had succeeded on Saturday evening in „cutting off the road linking Taiz to Mokha.“
According to three separate Yemeni military sources, 26 government troops and 31 Houthis have been killed over several hours of battles in the country’s southwest, AFP reported.
A Yemeni health source also told the French news agency that the death toll from a Houthi missile attack on a road in Yemen’s Taiz governorate earlier today now stands at six – an increase on the four reported by government-aligned sources earlier today.
Strikes by Yemen‘s Houthis on Sunday killed at least 11 people, a medical source in the Yemeni port city of Mokha has told AFP, after an earlier drone salvo targeted a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast.
A years-long truce in Yemen‘s civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government appeared to collapse last month.