PELONI: A major failure in Saudi operations against the Houthis is that it exclusively relies upon mercenary forces to enforce Saudi national interests. Saudi Arabia has an enormous landmass, and a rather tiny army to defend its desert sands from foreigners. The consequence of this is having to hand to others what should be secured by the Saudis themselves, for themeselves. Citizen armies are imbued with a powerful element of patriotism which can never be mimicked by a foreign mercenary force, no matter what their pay-scale might be. Complicating this further is the fact that the Saudis have demonstrated their preference to not play well with either their Gulf neighbors or with the real strong horse in the region, Israel. So the Saudis are carrying on while accepting these handicaps, but at a pace which belies the potential of imminent catastrophe if it the limit of its proxy forces might not achieve the required victory over the Houthis who have demonstrated themselves to be far more capable than the Saudi forces thus far.
The West needs a coherent plan for tackling Iran’s proxies
Jonathan Spyer | Spectator | Oct. 16, 2026
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Saudi missiles hit the Houthi-controlled Yemen Petroleum Company’s al-Sabaha facility near the Yemeni capital of Sana’a on Tuesday night. The Saudi strikes came in response to the Houthis’ earlier targeting of King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, when 12 people were killed. Another individual died in a similar attack the following day.
