Houthi raids target Saudi border posts, officials tell Middle East Eye
Officials say Houthi fighters have carried out several small-scale incursions into southwestern Saudi Arabia in recent months, including one in late October.
By Pablo Montgomery ·
Houthi fighters have crossed from Yemen into Saudi Arabia several times in recent months to attack military border posts, a western official and an Arab official with direct knowledge of the operations told Middle East Eye. The previously unreported raids targeted the kingdom’s mountainous southwest, with at least one taking place at the end of October.
The western official said surveillance equipment recorded the late-October incursion. The official also said the Houthis, formally called Ansar Allah, appeared to have seized particular small arms used exclusively by Saudi border security forces. The incursions would represent the first Houthi attacks across the Saudi border since Yemen’s ceasefire collapsed. Before the 2022 truce, Saudi Arabia regularly reported attempted infiltrations as Houthi fighters raided border cities and military bases.
Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen specialist who founded the Basha Report Risk Advisory, told Middle East Eye that Houthi operations near the border were increasing in reach and intensity. He described a progression from long-range drones and short-range ballistic missiles to small quadcopters dropping mortar munitions and sniper attacks. Basha, also an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, expected ground operations resembling those of the war’s early years, involving brief attacks, captured personnel, seized weapons and destroyed equipment before fighters withdrew.
The Arab official said the incursions would likely make Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish military support valuable on Saudi Arabia’s southern frontier. Turkey and Pakistan, Saudi partners in the Mecca Pact, have announced plans to send forces and air defence batteries to the kingdom. Egypt’s parliament approved a defensive deployment the previous week.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Saturday that Damascus was considering joining the pact. Separately, the western official told Middle East Eye that Syrian drone specialists had already reached Yemen to support Saudi-backed forces.
The border operations are unlikely to shift Yemen’s military balance, as Saudi-backed government troops struggle against a Houthi offensive. Reuters reported on Monday, November 2, that Houthi forces had moved within 50 miles of Aden port, the internationally recognised government’s capital, and had surrounded Taiz. Hundreds of Houthi strikes against Saudi civilian infrastructure, including airports and energy facilities, have killed at least 24 people and forced Riyadh to cancel a prominent investment forum.
The raids highlight the challenges of securing Saudi Arabia’s extensive, remote southern border and reinforce concerns within the kingdom about Houthi territorial ambitions. The movement claims the Saudi provinces of Asir, Jazan and Najran, which Yemen ceded under the 1934 Treaty of Taif.
The Houthis emerged in Saada, a mountainous Yemeni governorate south of the Saudi frontier, and take their name from founder Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi. The movement follows Zaydi Shia Islam and recruits from across Yemeni society. Its senior leaders claim Hashemite ancestry linking them to the Prophet Muhammad.
Source: Middle East Eye
