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Saudi Arabia is preparing for a major military offensive against Yemen’s Houthis by sea and possibly by land in central Yemen as it seeks to protect oil exports through the southern Red Sea, The Guardian reported, citing Yemeni sources.
Saudi forces have reportedly begun withdrawing from eastern Yemen in what could be preparations for a ground operation. Riyadh is also seeking to organize a multinational naval coalition to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandab Strait.
The troop movements involve concentrating forces for a possible attack on al-Bayda, a governorate in central southern Yemen that the Houthis captured in 2020 and 2021, the sources said.
The Saudi Defense Ministry said Thursday that 14 countries, including Türkiye, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Djibouti, had issued a joint statement supporting a multinational maritime defense coalition.
Riyadh has also asked the U.S. and several European countries, including Germany, France, the U.K. and Italy, to join a Red Sea coalition.
The European Union already operates the Aspides naval protection mission in the Red Sea.
It remains unclear whether the Houthis are seeking to impose a general blockade or one directed only at Saudi Arabia.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s Red Sea coastline, announced July 20 that they were imposing a blockade on Saudi ships.
The group denied that it planned to impose tolls on all vessels and said the blockade would be lifted once Saudi Arabia ended its blockade on Yemen.
The Houthis have presented the dispute as one concerning Yemen’s future rather than one directly involving Iran.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 in support of the U.N.-recognized government against the Houthis.
Houthi forces said July 25 that they had struck “sensitive” oil transportation sites inside Saudi Arabia that connect oil fields in the eastern province to a Red Sea export hub.
Saudi oil exports would face severe restrictions if the Red Sea route were closed to Saudi shipping while the Strait of Hormuz remained blockaded on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.
Before the war with Iran began, as much as 80% of Saudi crude exports passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Red Sea route has since become more important, with more than half of Saudi oil transported overland to loading terminals in the port city of Yanbu.
Fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has increased over the past two weeks, with the group launching attacks against Saudi Aramco facilities.
The attacks inside Saudi Arabia came hours after Saudi airstrikes targeted Houthi-controlled sites in the port of Hodeidah and after a third Saudi commercial vessel was attacked in the Red Sea.
Saudi strikes in Iraq on Wednesday killed at least 20 people as Riyadh retaliated against Iraqi militias for attacks on Saudi oil facilities.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the joint U.S.-Saudi strikes were carried out with the agreement of the Iraqi government, although Baghdad did not confirm the claim.
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman held an urgent meeting Wednesday with Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance to discuss the next steps.
Saudi officials want to demonstrate that the kingdom will defend itself and its energy industry but do not want to escalate the war against Iran, arguing that the dispute between Washington and Tehran could still be resolved through diplomacy.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have competed for control of Yemen for more than a decade, but their uneasy status quo has unraveled over the past month.
Tensions inside Yemen could ease if Iran and the Gulf states reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Talks between Oman and Iran are continuing, with Tehran demanding that all ships enter the strait through a northern route close to Iran’s coast.
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