What are Saudi Arabia's options to deter the Yemeni rebels?

Saudi Arabia confronts a recurring dilemma in Yemen: possessing military might to strike Iran-backed Houthis with intensity, yet struggling to ensure a campaign will put an end to the militant group’s ongoing threats. The recent barrage of missile and drone assaults has exposed this predicament, with Houthi attacks targeting Saudi airports and threatening vital energy infrastructure, including Saudi Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran.

Analysts suggest Riyadh's options are limited, mainly concentrating on escalating air strikes, bolstering Yemeni government forces on the ground, reinforcing air defenses, and pursuing renewed diplomatic engagement. Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Centre, advises applying military pressure on the Houthis within Yemen to halt further attacks, with a priority on limiting their cross-border attack capabilities, particularly by degrading their missile capabilities.

Diplomatic engagement could prove essential in resolving the conflict. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis reached a fragile truce in 2022 after tensions escalated in July, when Sanaa International Airport was hit by an air strike blamed on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis. The kingdom's internationally recognized government claimed responsibility, stating it targeted the runway to prevent an unauthorized Iranian aircraft landing.

This incident tested the fragile calm and led to retaliatory missile strikes from the Houthis towards Saudi Arabia, intensifying the conflict with Yemeni forces.

The Houthis have been battling the Yemeni government since seizing Sanaa in 2014, and Saudi Arabia intervened in 2015 at the helm of a coalition of regional allies to support the government against the rebels. Saudi Arabia boasts one of the world's largest military budgets and a sophisticated arsenal, including American warplanes, missile-defense systems, and other advanced weaponry.

Nonetheless, defeating the Houthis militarily would demand more than air power, necessitating effective ground forces to alter the power balance in Houthi-occupied territory, as well as maritime forces to curb the flow of supplies to the group via the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa.

Although Yemeni forces opposed to the Houthis have enhanced their capabilities, they still grapple with issues of competence and political fragmentation. Defeating the Houthis would likely require a state-building approach to address their weaknesses. The Houthis, once considered a relatively poorly equipped militia, have transformed into a formidable fighting force, equipped with missiles and drones capable of striking targets over 1,000 miles away.

Since the war in Gaza started in 2023, the group has launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel, most of which were intercepted, though some reached their targets, including a drone strike in Tel Aviv that killed someone in 2024 and a missile strike near Ben Gurion Airport last year.