Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)

Israel is providing Saudi Arabia with military intelligence to support its operations against Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah), an Israeli defense official told The Jerusalem Post, as Israel prepares for a possible Houthi attack amid a wider regional conflict.

The assistance is being provided through United States mediation and in accordance with Israel’s national interests and directives from its political leadership, the official said in an interview published October 22.

Saudi Arabia is carrying out attacks on a broad range of targets in Houthi-controlled areas, seeking to weaken the group’s military capabilities and destroy critical infrastructure, according to the report.

“Two main points need to be made about this. First, it serves Israel’s interests quite well because it wears down the military strength of an Israeli enemy that is preparing and planning to harm us in the future. In addition, we are monitoring and observing methods of operation and tactics, and learning a great deal from what is happening there, including about weapons that are not necessarily manufactured by the Houthis,” the official said.

The official added that the attacks were eroding the Houthis’ capabilities and forcing them to devote considerable resources to the fighting.

“The Houthis are accustomed to building up their forces, not employing them on this scale. They are a serious enemy, well structured for the long term, but this presents them with a significant challenge. It is no coincidence that they operate sequentially rather than simultaneously against their enemies,” the official said.

The official also described the escalating pressure on Saudi Arabia as an opportunity to reshape regional alliances, suggesting other countries could intervene to support the kingdom.

“The question here is who will intervene on Saudi Arabia’s behalf. There is apprehension among countries, but we assess that there will be intervention. Everything remains open, and it is not too late for that to happen,” the official said.

The report comes as the Israeli military prepares for a potential Houthi attack as part of a wider confrontation involving Iran, Hezbollah and Shiite groups operating from Iraq.

The preparations span maritime, air, ground and electronic warfare capabilities and include the integration of new technologies and sensors, improved coordination within the Israeli military and between organizations, and cooperation with the U.S. military, according to the official.

The U.S. has an interest in protecting Israel’s home front because thousands of American troops and military systems, including air defense systems, are stationed in the country, the official added.

The official also said Sunni-majority countries were watching the escalation involving the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, with Iranian support for the Yemeni group raising concerns that other states in the region could face similar threats.

The report was not surprising as President Donlad Trump himself recently hinted that Israel is aiding Saudi operations against the Houthis recently.

Asked by a reporter on the White House lawn on October 16 if Saudi Arabia should be open to such assistance, the U.S. president said, “I do, I think they will. Israel’s been very helpful to Saudi Arabia, and yeah they certainly would do that, yeah.”

Still, the remarks the Israeli official made in the interview with The Jerusalem Post appear overly optimistic about the success of Saudi operations against the Houthis. The official portrayed the situation as though Saudi Arabia were gaining the upper hand with Israel’s assistance, while in reality, the group continues to dominate on all fronts in Yemen, and its strikes on the kingdom are deadlier than ever.

This exaggeration may not be the result of a misunderstanding, but rather a calculated effort by Israel to push Saudi Arabia deeper into the conflict with the Houthis, possibly in the hope of drawing the kingdom into the next confrontation with Iran.

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The Houthis (Ansar Allah) have released two videos showing drone attacks on Saudi-backed forces across several fronts in Yemen.

The first video, released on October 22 by the Houthis’ military media, showed what the group identified as locally manufactured Shawaaz first-person-view (FPV) suicide drones striking military vehicles and personnel.

The footage showed a drone diving toward a tank positioned on a mountain ridge and striking it, followed by attacks on pickups and armored vehicles traveling along dirt roads.

Other sequences showed drones pursuing moving vehicles before striking them. One armored vehicle exploded on a dirt track. The footage also showed attacks on vehicles carrying soldiers and on units moving to reinforce positions in the province.

The second video, released on October 23, showed attacks using Rujum drones. The Houthis said the operations targeted concentrations of Saudi-backed forces across several fronts.

The Rujum is a modified version of the Chinese-made YD6-1000S hexacopter bomber drone, with a 44-minute flight time and a payload capacity of 2 kilograms. It has been adapted to deploy munitions such as 60 mm mortar rounds.

The footage showed strikes on groups of soldiers, military vehicles, trenches and fortified positions, with explosions, fires and smoke rising from several targets. Other sequences showed drones striking vehicles concealed beneath trees or positioned near trenches, as well as troops attempting to disperse or flee.

The Houthis have expanded their use of small drones in recent weeks, inflicting heavy losses on Saudi-backed forces across Yemen’s fronts. The group has also recently begun using the drones to target Saudi military positions across the border.

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• On October 22, the Yemeni army (Ansar Allah) launched missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry in Riyadh, King Fahd Airport in Dammam, a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu, and Abha Airport;
• On October 21, an attack on King Fahd Airport in Dammam killed two people and injured eight others;
• Fighting between Ansar Allah and the Saudi-backed forces continue in Jabal Han and the Old Airport west of Taiz;
• On October 21, falling debris from an intercepted drone near Aramco’s Shaybah oil field killed two workers and injured two others.

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Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced on October 22 that they had launched ballistic missiles and drones against four targets in Saudi Arabia, including the Defense Ministry headquarters in Riyadh, two international airports and a facility belonging to state oil company Saudi Aramco.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesman, said in a statement that the operations were conducted over the previous 48 hours and scored direct hits on all four targets.

The targets were the Saudi Defense Ministry in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, an Aramco facility in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu and Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

Saree said the attack on King Fahd International Airport disrupted air traffic, while the strike on the Aramco facility in Yanbu started a fire. He did not provide details about the weapons used against each target or the extent of the reported damage.

The statement came as Saudi Arabia reported deadly incidents involving intercepted drones and an attack on King Fahd International Airport that caused casualties and disrupted flights.

The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said an attack on the Dammam airport late Wednesday killed one Saudi resident and injured eight people, damaging airport facilities and prompting flight diversions. Reuters later reported that two people, including an Indian national, had been killed and eight others injured.

In a separate incident, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said falling debris from a drone intercepted near Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field killed two foreign residents and injured two others on October 21. The dead were Filipino and Nepali nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals.

The ministry said the interception sparked a fire in a contractor’s vehicle outside the facility’s perimeter but did not affect oil-field operations. Shaybah is in eastern Saudi Arabia and is separate from the Yanbu facility named in Saree’s statement.

Saudi military officials also reported several drone interceptions in recent days. The Saudi-led coalition said on October 21 that it had intercepted and destroyed four drones launched toward the kingdom. The next day, the coalition reported additional interceptions over Riyadh and Medina.

Separately, Reuters reported on October 22 that Saudi Aramco had instructed employees to evacuate its headquarters in Dhahran and work remotely as the fighting intensified. The reason for the order was unclear.

Saree accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out more than 2,900 airstrikes and missile attacks against civilian sites in Yemen over the previous 100 days, claiming that more than 562 people had been killed or wounded, most of them women and children. The figures were not independently verified.

He also warned Riyadh against carrying out threats to target Yemeni tribes, saying the consequences would be “catastrophic and unexpected.” He said the Houthis would resort to major options they had previously been reluctant to use if Saudi Arabia followed through on the threats.

“The Yemeni armed forces will continue their operations deep inside Saudi Arabia in defense of our country and our people,” Saree said, stressing that the operations would continue until the attacks on Yemen stopped and the blockade was lifted.

The Houthis escalated their strikes on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks as they maintained the upper hand on all fronts in Yemen, namely in Taiz and Bab al-Mandab in the southwest of the country. Meanwhile, the kingdom, despite all recent setbacks, appears to be determined to go on with its campaign against the group. In addition to its allies in the Mecca defense pact, Pakistan and Turkey, Riyadh is working on securing support from Egypt and Syria.

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Ataque a aeroporto na Arábia Saudita deixa dois mortos e oito feridos

O número de mortos em um ataque ao Aeroporto Internacional King Fahd, em Dammam, na noite de quarta-feira (21), subiu para dois, segundo a Autoridade de Aviação Civil da Arábia Saudita.

Entre as vítimas está um cidadão indiano. A embaixada da Índia em Riade informou, em comunicado, que foi notificada da morte pelas autoridades sauditas e que estava “apurando mais detalhes e entrando em contato com as famílias afetadas”.

Oito pessoas também ficaram feridas no ataque, segundo a autoridade de aviação. Os ferimentos variam de “leves a graves”.

O aeroporto, localizado no leste do país, também sofreu danos, cuja extensão ainda está sendo avaliada.

O ataque ocorreu após o Departamento de Estado dos Estados Unidos emitir um alerta de segurança na quarta-feira, recomendando que cidadãos americanos ficassem atentos a possíveis ataques contra aeroportos e a interrupções nas viagens pelo país.

Uma série de ataques fatais dos houthis nas últimas semanas teve como alvos o Aeroporto Internacional King Khalid, em Riade, instalações militares sauditas, infraestrutura petrolífera e o tráfego marítimo.

Quem são os Houthis, grupo do Iêmen apoiado pelo Irã?