Frustration grows as Houthis widen Middle East conflict with US unwilling to intervene

By Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler, Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — Dramatic recent advances by the Iran-backed Houthis, including the seizure of a strategically important island in the Red Sea, have dealt another blow to a region reeling from the US war with Iran and exacerbated an already severe global energy crisis. But neither the US nor its key ally Saudi Arabia has a clear plan to beat back the group, multiple sources told CNN, leading many in the region to ask where the counteroffensive will come from.

Although US officials acknowledge the Yemeni rebel group is advancing with the goal of ultimately asserting control over the critical Bab al Mandeb Strait, the Trump administration is signaling it has little interest in using the American military to stop them – relying instead on Saudi Arabia to do so.

But even with additional US intelligence and targeting support, Saudi Arabia has not been able to effectively stop the Houthis from taking key coastal towns in Yemen, frustrating Gulf and American officials. Sources who spoke with CNN expressed doubt that the Saudis would be able to stop the Houthis on their own.

The Houthis moves have not come as a surprise to sources in the region, as well as former diplomats, who said the weaknesses of the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces were well-known. For months US intelligence reports indicated the group would attempt to close another key waterway for commercial shipping as Iran did earlier this year, US officials said.

Still, the US believes it is currently providing Saudi Arabia with everything it needs to be successful against the Houthis, one American official told CNN, referring to the recent increase in sharing intelligence support and sharing of targeting data support with the Kingdom. And after about a decade of training the Yemen government’s military, the Kingdom had assured US officials that they were confident in their ability, two sources told CNN.

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces started fighting the Houthis, who are supported and trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), more than a decade ago during Yemen’s brutal civil war. A 2022 UN-brokered truce had brought a period of relatively low levels of hostilities between the two sides.

However, the fighting has resumed and intensified in recent weeks. The Saudis accused the Houthis of targeting Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, and the Houthis claim to have shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet.

President Donald Trump has made clear that his current red line is direct US participation in kinetic strikes against the Houthis. To date, US military support has been strictly providing intel and targeting data for Saudi strikes.

“No offensive strikes,” said a US official.

‘The Houthis called us and they don’t want to fight’

Multiple Gulf and US sources say messaging from Trump signals to the Iranians he is unwilling to back US allies in the region.

“The Houthis called us and they don’t want to fight with us,” Trump said in remarks to reporters in Ireland last weekend. “They don’t want us to go after them and would much prefer not having us involved and they’re letting most ships go through.”

“It’s just one country they’re not too happy with,” Trump said, referring to Saudi Arabia, “and we’ll get that straightened out.”

Barbara Leaf, a former US diplomat who worked throughout the Middle East called Trump’s own comments about the Houthis “shocking.”

“It’s a pretty harsh way to treat your relationship with a close partner, to appear to privilege your agreement with a group you’ve designated as an (foreign terrorist organization) that attacked that partner,” she told CNN. The administration designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in March 2025.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke twice with Trump last week to ask for US strikes against the Houthis. That request, so far, has been rebuffed and sources said it is hard to tell if the administration policy will shift.

Amid this frustration over the Houthis advances, many Gulf sources believe the offensive represents a new front in the Iran war that could prolong the conflict. Despite some efforts to deal with the issues separately, sources increasingly believe there is unlikely to be progress on Iran without dealing with the Houthis.

“The Houthis’ Red Sea push is emboldening the IRGC. The Saudis have to get this fixed, otherwise they are negotiating with a gun on the table and they won’t do that,” said Joey Hood, a former US ambassador who spent much of his career working in the Middle East.

Hood, like other sources, noted that although the Houthis claim their fight is just with Saudis, there is a clear nexus to Iran.

“Iran is in an existential battle now and pulling on all of their proxies to fight. The Houthis are not remote-controlled by Iran but they need fuel from them. So, the Houthi statements of why they are carrying out this offensive now are not a complete reflection of reality,” said Hood.

The situation in Yemen has complicated the other negotiations, including those over the Strait of Hormuz.

A first meeting between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Iran since the US-Iran war began was canceled earlier this week. Saudi Arabia decided not to attend amid concerns around the language of a potential agreement between Oman and Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and other Gulf countries followed suit. Regional sources said it was a clear signal that the Kingdom sees no upside to engaging with the Iranians amid active Houthi attacks.

“Due to the Houthi attacks and the situation near the Bab-el-Mandeb corridor, it’s affecting the Strait of Hormuz deal,” a regional source told CNN. “The Saudis are demanding an all-or-nothing approach, which is understandable, but it delays the process.”

‘No one wants to fight alone’

For about a decade, the Saudis have been training Yemen’s military, and so far, those forces have been unable to effectively push back the Houthis. Saudi strikes, backed by US intelligence and precision targeting, have prevented the militia from exercising a firm command over some of the territory they have taken, but advances have not been wholly rebuffed.

The highest levels of the US government largely ignored the Houthi threat over the last decade despite lower-level US officials and regional players urging closer attention to the rebel group as it grew stronger, sources said. Last year’s US military campaign against the Houthis also laid bare the limits of American firepower – as months of bombing failed to effectively dislodge the group’s foothold inside Yemen and ended with an abrupt US-Houthi ceasefire.

The US “solidified the ceasefire” with the Houthis during a meeting in Oman this weekend, the US official said – a message that underscores the administration’s unwillingness to get involved.

“The Americans sent a message,” a senior Houthi official familiar with the matter told CNN Thursday, “that they don’t want to join the Saudis and be part of the conflict.”

“We received this message positively,” the source added.

There was a perception that Saudi Arabia’s own firepower coupled with its investment in Yemen’s military could counterbalance the Houthis’ offenses, some current and former US officials say. That expectation has not panned out.

Others say the Houthi successes are hardly surprising, especially given unity of the militia and Iran’s support.

“The Houthis have the advantage of having this really deep and productive relationship with the (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) which has trained them and taken them up several notches from the hard-scrabble kind of cave fighters that they were 12 years ago to a force that can really be quite devastating,” said Leaf, who was a former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

“The Houthi have spent a lot of time in the last months preparing their forces for just this kind of move,” she continued. “They punched through the Saudi-aligned and Yemeni government-aligned forces, not surprisingly, just punched through them – the forces just disintegrated.”

“No one wants to fight alone,” said a current Gulf official. “Either the Saudis fight or they cut a deal with the Houthis.”

But as it becomes clear that the Saudi-backed government will need more resources to take on the Houthis, the kingdom is also spread thin as they manage a wide array of challenges resulting from the ongoing war: a recent strike on their East-West pipeline, working with the US military on enabling tanker traffic through the strait, and keeping open a land-bridge to move critical resources through the region.

Saudi Arabia also cut oil exports to Europe for the month of September in recent days, triggering a recognition that the global energy crisis could deepen.

An effective pushback at the hands of Saudi-backed forces in Yemen is likely to require additional boots on the ground from Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, and a projection of commitment from the US, sources said. But neither of those inputs seem likely.

“At least the possibility of US involvement needs to hang over everyone to act as a deterrent, if you just unnecessarily wipe that away its demoralizing particularly to the Yemenis on the ground,” another regional source said.

Leaf said she has not heard exasperation with the Saudis from officials in the region, but rather questions of “What the hell is the US going to do here?”

Gulf and US sources have also expressed doubts about whether the Houthi escalation can actually be entirely resolved militarily.

“They have been trying for years” to defeat the Houthis, the regional source said, noting that military action “will weaken them, yes, but will not end them.”

CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim contributed reporting.

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