Will Saudi Arabia Fight the Houthis and Join the Abraham Accords?
The Houthis attempted to strike Mecca, which Saudi Arabia called a “red line,” as the Kingdom’s air defense downed a Houthi drone just south of the city. This marks the second time Mecca was targeted, the first being in July 2017. The Houthis are still able to pose a significant threat to Saudi Arabia, with over 70 wounded by recent attacks earlier this month. The recent drone attack comes as Iran is applying increased, multi-front military pressure on Saudi Arabia’s south, north, and east. Namely, Iran threatens Saudi Arabia via its proxies, the Houthis in Yemen and the Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq, and also directly threatens the Kingdom’s critical infrastructure like oil and desalination facilities.
Saudi Arabia may finally be bucking up to defend itself against the Houthis, as it has attacked the terrorist group over 40 times in recent days, following another Saudi salvo of 54 strikes in a matter of twelve hours. Hopefully this reflects a durable change of heart, following its dithering to deploy air power to quash the recent Houthi advance on the Red Sea, and its counter-productive pressure that ended UAE-led anti-Houthi efforts in Yemen last year. Saudi Arabia has been dealing with Houthi attacks since at least 2015.
Saudi Arabia has reached out to the United Kingdom for assistance, which so far has only agreed to send military advisors, and Pakistan, which, despite the new Saudi Arabia-Turkey-Pakistan defense pact, has provided nothing. President Trump, likely fed up with Saudi Arabia’s role in the U.S.-Israel war against Iran (which included the Kingdom’s public condemnation of “heinous attacks” on “brotherly Iran”), had recently declined to assist the Saudis in their defense against the Houthis. (RELATED: Will Trump Get Saudi Arabia to Join the Abraham Accords?)
So Saudi Arabia, desperate to preserve its national security, is asking the Jewish State for help against the Houthis. One political commenter noted the irony, stating that while the Kingdom bashes Israel, “…when the Saudis are in real trouble, they don’t pray to Mecca, they pray to Jerusalem.”
Better late than never.
Saudi Arabia should finally act in its best interests and join the Abraham Accords. Israel is the United States’ greatest force multiplier in the Middle East, and while being publicly spurned by the Kingdom, it continues to provide enormous strategic benefits to Saudi Arabia. It has given Saudi Arabia intelligence on the Houthis via CENTCOM. It was recently revealed that the IDF had secretly met with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and the US to discuss the war on Iran, and this apparently wasn’t the first such meeting.
During the most recent meeting, Israel apparently discussed with Saudi Arabia how it can assist the Kingdom in pushing back the Houthis from the Bab al-Mandeb strait and defending the Kingdom itself from Houthi attacks. Israel has also sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of advanced weapons systems to Saudi Arabia through U.S. defense manufacturers and international projects. Israel has provided its Iron Dome technology to the UAE to help the Emirates stave off multiple missile and drone attacks from Iran. It is self-evident that the Iron Dome would benefit Saudi Arabia immensely.
And Israel is battle-tested and has proven itself willing to and capable of taking the fight to the Houthis. The Houthis, whose slogan literally is “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews,” have launched at least 130 ballistic missiles at Israel. And Israel has been more than willing to respond. For example, in May 2025, following a Houthi missile attack on Ben Gurion airport, Israel destroyed the Sanaa airport the next day in addition to causing over $20 million in damage to the Houthis’ main port of Hodeida. In August 2025, Israel killed the Houthi prime minister, in addition to eleven other top officials in a massive decapitation strike. (RELATED: Is It Time to Call Trump’s Iran War a Quagmire?)
As the Houthis are on the move, fortunately the Abraham Accords are facing a second wind. In a joint statement, Morocco, the United States and Israel have agreed to strengthen their ties in the Abraham Accords. Israel and Morocco promised to finalize investment agreements between them by the end of 2026. The United States and Morocco reaffirmed Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, which they originally recognized in 2020 when Morocco first joined the Abraham Accords. The countries have also pledged to appoint ambassadors and raise their missions to embassies, in addition to increasing flights between the two countries. And Israel’s ambassador to the UAE claimed that Kuwait may join the Abraham Accords within six months.
Despite serving as a behind-the-scenes broker of the Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia has yet to take the plunge itself. It remains to be seen if it can overcome its own obsession with the poison pill of an “irreversible pathway” to Palestinian nationalism, to broker a durable agreement with the United States and Israel. But to rescue itself from the Iranian axis menace, Saudi Arabia should join the Abraham Accords.
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