Saudi offensive on Houthis would involve over 100,000 Yemeni troops, report says

Update, 3 October, 01:08 Israel time

More than 100,000 Yemeni soldiers would take part in the planned Saudi offensive against the Houthis, Ynet reported, citing Reuters. The figure is the first indication of the size of the ground force; earlier excerpts of the Reuters account did not give one. Ynet also described Riyadh as preparing for the broad operation on its own.

The same Ynet report set the Saudi plans alongside comments from Pakistan's foreign minister about a mutual defence pact the report calls the "Mecca alliance", whose members include Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Under the pact, an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. According to Ynet, the minister said six countries want to join, and that the member states would pursue what he called "political dialogue" with the Houthis. Ynet's headline characterised it as an alliance that had not protected Saudi Arabia. The report did not name the six countries or explain how a diplomatic track would relate to the military preparations Reuters described.

The Times of Israel has since published a fuller version of the Reuters dispatch, datelined Riyadh. In the portion available, it repeats the options, the reliance on Riyadh-overseen Yemeni ground forces backed by Saudi air power, and the limited, mainly defensive role of allies, without adding a launch date or naming the Yemeni units involved.

The story as first reported

Saudi Arabia is preparing a military offensive against the Houthi movement in Yemen and is considering more than one plan for it, Reuters reported, citing regional and Western officials. One option is an advance along the coast aimed at securing the Red Sea shipping route. Another is a broader assault on several fronts at once. The account was relayed by Israeli outlets including The Times of Israel, Israel Hayom, N12 and Ynet.

According to the Reuters account as summarised by The Times of Israel, the operation is expected to begin in the coming weeks. Yemeni ground forces under Saudi supervision would do the fighting on the ground, with Saudi aircraft carrying out strikes in support. Six people with knowledge of the preparations described the plans and asked not to be named because the subject concerns security matters.

Who would fight, and who would not

The reported plan keeps foreign partners out of direct combat. The people cited said the United States is already supplying intelligence to support Saudi operations in Yemen, and that some regional and European countries are giving the kingdom military aid that is mainly defensive in nature. None of these allies is expected to take part in combat operations, according to the same account.

N12's report, posted by its correspondent Asaf Rosenzweig, described the ground force as Yemeni troops led by Riyadh. The Times of Israel version says the Yemeni forces are overseen by Riyadh. The difference is one of wording rather than substance, but the reports do not set out the exact command arrangement.

The Houthis and the war in Yemen

The Houthis are an armed movement that controls Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's north. They are backed by Iran, and the Israeli and international reports describe them as Iran-backed militants. A photograph published alongside The Times of Israel's item showed a Houthi band at a ceremony in Sanaa marking the 12th anniversary of the movement's takeover of the capital, held on September 20, 2026.

Yemen lies on the southern border of Saudi Arabia, at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and its western coast faces the Red Sea, one of the main maritime routes between Asia and Europe. Saudi Arabia entered Yemen's civil war in 2015, leading an Arab coalition that intervened against the Houthis. The new plan, as described, would mark a fresh offensive phase in that long-running conflict rather than the start of a new one.

Why the Red Sea matters

The coastal option is framed around shipping. The Times of Israel headlined its item as an effort to reverse Houthi gains on the Red Sea, and both it and Israel Hayom said the options on the table run from securing the shipping lane to a multi-front attack. Israel Hayom called the plan a major operation. Ynet's alert led on the possibility of strikes on several fronts.

For Israeli readers the story carries particular weight because the Houthis are part of the Iran-aligned network that Israel regards as hostile, which is why it was picked up quickly by the country's main news channels. The reports themselves, however, do not mention Israel or any Israeli role.

How the story reached Israeli media

All four Israeli outlets attribute the information to Reuters; none of them presents independent reporting of its own. Ynet's news alert carried a brief headline saying Saudi Arabia was getting ready to strike the Houthis, with an attack on several fronts under consideration. N12 and Israel Hayom gave short summaries, and The Times of Israel published the longest excerpt of the Reuters text.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not give a launch date beyond the coming weeks, and they do not say which of the options Saudi Arabia has chosen or whether a decision has been made. They do not name the Yemeni forces that would lead the ground fighting, nor give their size. They do not say which regional and European countries are providing defensive aid, or what that aid consists of.

None of the reports includes an on-the-record comment from the Saudi government, the Houthis, the United States or Iran. All of the detail rests on anonymous officials and people familiar with the preparations, as relayed by Reuters, and the available excerpts do not describe how the Houthis have responded.