The US declared a naval coalition to allegedly protect navigation in the Red Sea after the Yemeni Houthi group said it would target all ships heading to Israel in response to Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia was conspicuously absent from the coalition, even though it possesses an army outfitted with cutting-edge American weaponry, has fought the Houthi group in Yemen, has seaports along the Red Sea, and imports 36% of its goods from the region.
It is noteworthy that following the Houthis’ seizure of two ships sailing toward Israel, Saudi Arabia joined along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan in establishing a land corridor that would allow Emirati goods and products to reach the occupying state.
Experts stated that Saudi Arabia’s exclusion from the naval coalition exposes Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) military defeat and loss in Yemen in the face of the Iran-backed Houthis.
Others said that MBS has become weak, fearing entering into a new war with the Houthis, whom he considers to be proxy warriors for Iran. Since he recently reached a truce agreement with the Houthis after their missiles were able to reach Riyadh and Aramco, MBS also fears that America will betray him in the future, withdraw from the new coalition, and leave him to fight the Houthis alone.
Some believe that the new US-led coalition aims to bring money back from the Kingdom, as Donald Trump did during his presidency term, given that the operations carried out by the Houthi forces in the Red Sea did not reach the point of affecting the situation in the Israeli occupation state. Therefore, the US wants to exhaust Saudi Arabia’s financial capabilities in a new long-year war, as it did in the Decisive Storm in Yemen.
To date, the Saudi Foreign Ministry has not responded to any inquiries about the Kingdom’s absence in the US-declared naval coalition.
However, well-informed sources told us that the Saudi exclusion of the coalition was due to the Kingdom’s desire to avoid escalation with Iran or violating the truce agreement it reached with the Houthis.
The sources went on to say that another war might turn the current political process into a military operation that would alter the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape both now and in the future. This is something the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not want because it wants to reevaluate its relations with Israel and work to resolve the Iranian conflict peacefully.
Other reports said that the Saudi Crown Prince is trying to promote his foreign image following the Saudi-led war on Yemen, especially since international human rights organisations accused him of committing war crimes, causing famine, and bombing civilians in Yemen.
With all of these political and security analyses of the current state of affairs, coupled with Saudi Arabia’s refusal to join the Red Sea naval coalition, it is evident that the Crown Prince is in a weak position and has dragged the Kingdom into needless conflicts with its neighbors. This has caused serious issues and damaged the Kingdom’s and the ruling family’s reputations.
