President Donald Trump may have left open the possibility of the United States joining Saudi Arabia in striking Yemen’s Houthi rebels, as attacks on the kingdom intensify.
Just weeks ago, Trump rejected Saudi requests for direct US strikes against the Iran-aligned Houthis, but after heavy casualties and damage caused by the rebels’ latest incursions into the kingdom, Trump told reporters, “Maybe … we’ll look at it. We’re moving very fast,” later describing the attacks as “a terrible thing.”
But any US military action in the Middle East would be shaped by a delicate set of calculations, chief among them a risk of wider regional confrontation that could threaten American interests or provoke more attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.
About 20 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a series of Houthi attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and other airports across Saudi Arabia this past week. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the actions on X, noting that an American citizen had been one of the victims.
Asked whether the United States might intervene, a Pentagon official told MBN, “The Department of War does not discuss hypothetical or future military operations.”
Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia continued Tuesday, when the Saudi-led military coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed three drones north of Riyadh, a day after it said it had destroyed a ballistic missile fired toward the capital.
The coalition also urged civilians to evacuate the Yemen Petroleum Company’s Al-Sabaha Central Station in Sanaa ahead of what spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki called a special operation in the Houthi-held capital, according to Gulf News.
A Houthi military spokesman said in a statement that the group, which the U.S. State Department has designated as a terrorist group, would respond to any targeting of Sanaa.
Mubarak Al-Ati, a Saudi researcher specializing in international relations, told MBN that the Houthi attacks “require a major international effort.” Any delay, he argued, would create “a terrorist threat and a new Iran” on Saudi Arabia’s borders.
According to retired Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the range of US military options extends from limited precision strikes to a broader air campaign targeting missile and drone launch sites, weapons depots, and command-and-control centers.
The effectiveness of American support, Deptula told MBN, would depend on integrating intelligence, surveillance and targeting capabilities with air power, aerial refueling and logistical support, while also strengthening Saudi Arabia’s air defenses.
The Houthis possess a vast arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles, drones and anti-ship missiles, as well as other weapons seized from Yemeni military stockpiles over the last years of civil unrest.
On Monday, Houthi leader Mohammed al-Bukhaiti warned the United States against intervening militarily alongside Saudi Arabia, threatening “a swift response … targeting America and all its interests in the region,” according to Agence France-Presse.
This could point to the Houthis further targeting shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea, further squeezing energy prices.
Fahd Al-Shelimi, head of the Middle East Center for Strategic Studies in Kuwait, said Saudi Arabia wanted US aircraft to take part in strikes against the Houthis – a battle the kingdom officially entered in March 2015 but has yet been able to quell – though Washington might prefer to focus on Iran and preserve its stockpiles in case of further escalation.
As part of broader Western support for Saudi Arabia in confronting the Houthis, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told lawmakers on Monday that London was prepared to consider additional Saudi requests for assistance. He noted that Britain had agreed last month to provide aerial-refueling for a limited period, according to a statement to Parliament.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the Houthi attacks on King Khalid International Airport, expressing Ankara’s support for Riyadh and announcing plans to submit the Mecca Defense Alliance to the Turkish parliament in the coming days.
Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a Washington, D.C think tank, said she did not expect Trump to become directly involved in the conflict, and that resuming air and naval bombing campaigns would not guarantee an end to the Houthi threat.
She noted that the group had demonstrated its ability to withstand previous strikes, while constraints on US munitions stockpiles, thanks to deployments in Iran, could limit additional American military operations.
But Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told MBN, “The US military has everything it needs to conduct operations at the time and place of the president’s choosing.”
