Saudi Arabia faces costly choices as the Houthis advance in Yemen and strike the kingdom, analysts told CNN in a report published around September 12, 2026. Riyadh doesn’t want all-out war, they said, but Houthi behaviour could pull it into one.
This week the Houthis captured the port town of Mocha and, according to Reuters, Perim Island at the mouth of the Red Sea, though the Perim claim isn’t independently confirmed. Around the same time Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline was shut after a drone attack from Iraq. Riyadh said it chose not to respond to that attack at this stage.
Analysts see three paths. Escalation: Cinzia Bianco of the European Council on Foreign Relations said it could become an open-ended conflict like Yemen’s civil war and be hard to separate from the wider US-Iran war. Diplomacy: she said Riyadh has exhausted political solutions after months of “strategic patience,” and Mohammed Al-Basha said a deal would amount to surrender to Houthi demands. Outside help: the US has so far declined to strike the Houthis, though it has sent advisers, and former Saudi adviser Nawaf Obaid said Riyadh asked only for intelligence.
The Houthis say they will keep pressing Saudi Arabia until it lifts what they call a 12-year siege. Saudi analyst Salman Al-Ansari expects the Yemeni government’s campaign, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, to intensify soon, but said Riyadh won’t launch an all-out war without sustained international support. About 22 million Yemenis, roughly half the population, need humanitarian aid.
Sources: Seatrade Maritime, Outlook India.
