The answer it got back: $51 billion. DUBAI—After Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea and seized territory commanding the strategic Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint, the kingdom reached out to the group to see what it would take to arrive at a negotiated halt to the hostilities.
For good measure, the Houthis would want the kingdom to officially recognize the militants as the rulers of Yemen, effectively accepting an Iranian-armed adversary on its southern border.
The Houthis said that was the sum needed to cover the cost of years of Saudi strikes and a long blockade, people briefed on the discussions said. Other figures have come up since, the people said, but the message was clear: The price of an exit would be in the tens of billions of dollars.
Sites have included civilian airports , crippling travel to the kingdom, as well as repeated attacks targeting oil giant Saudi Aramco, with fires or damage reported at its facilities, said Ameneh Mehvar, a senior Mideast analyst for the conflict monitor Acled. The Houthis are now pressing toward Aden, the port city that is the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Saudi Arabia’s ally. The Saudi government and Houthi leadership didn’t respond to requests for comment. In October, the Houthis carried out a near-daily campaign of attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, with a major uptick toward the month’s end. Army colonel who has taught officers in Gulf Arab militaries, including Saudi Arabia’s. “What that does by announcing they can strike Aden is it makes it harder for the coalition to move ground forces and other elements in.
They recently moved to within some 50 miles, closer than at any time since 2015, when they seized parts of the city. The U.S., meanwhile, has so far declined to offer any direct support against the Houthis after fighting against the group in a weekslong campaign in 2025.
“The imbalance of risk between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia is even greater now than it was in the earlier period of conflict between 2015 and 2022, as the impact of the strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure undermines investor confidence,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, an expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute who has long studied the region. The Houthis “present the Saudi leadership with few viable military options against an adversary that is well-entrenched, dug in, and has far less to lose from a grinding war of attrition,” Ulrichsen said. “The Houthis have been using shorter-range ballistic missiles to attack places like Aden,” said David Des Roches, a retired U.S. Egypt’s Parliament in October approved sending military support to Saudi Arabia, though Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has said any mission would be defensive only.
