CNN cites sources: real-time battle updates, satellite targeting data shared with Riyadh

Hundreds from Iran's Revolutionary Guard join Houthis, threatening to seal off Bab-el-Mandeb after Hormuz

US on edge over risk that energy detour route could be blocked

People row past a container ship anchored near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen's coast last month.
People row past a container ship anchored near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen's coast last month.

The United States is significantly expanding its intelligence and military support for Saudi Arabia, which is on the brink of all-out war with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. CNN reported Thursday (local time), citing multiple sources.

According to those sources, a US military advisory team of about 100 to 200 personnel is currently stationed in Saudi Arabia, supporting the Saudi military's operations.

Amid signs that Iran has recently stepped up support for the Houthi rebels, the advisory team has been deployed to a newly established joint military command in Saudi Arabia. The deployment took place over the past several weeks.

The US military is reportedly providing real-time battlefield updates and satellite-based targeting information to Saudi forces to support their operations against the Houthi rebels.

However, CNN said the scope of US support remains fairly limited.

The US military is not directly participating in strikes against the Houthi rebels. One source said the focus of the support is to help ensure that Saudi military operations proceed smoothly and professionally.

The expanded US support comes as the Houthi rebels' offensive has intensified sharply in recent weeks.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government agreed to a truce in 2022, but Yemen has effectively remained divided between the two sides ever since.

As the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz has dragged on, both sides have in effect broken the roughly four-year truce in the Red Sea as well. They have launched counteroffensives to seize control of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

On Thursday, the Houthi rebels seized Mokha, a major Yemeni city on the Red Sea coast, moving closer to full control of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Earlier this month, the group launched missile and drone strikes on Saudi energy facilities, killing dozens of civilians.

In the United States, some have raised concerns that the support recalls the controversial targeting information Washington previously provided Saudi Arabia during its war against the Houthi rebels.

During the Barack Obama administration and the first Trump administration, the US assisted Saudi military operations but faced fierce backlash after the operations resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties.

Even under the second Trump administration, the US military carried out operations against the Houthi rebels for months. But it withdrew after abruptly agreeing to a truce on the recommendation of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine, who noted there was no clear exit strategy.

Moreover, the US military's combat capacity has been stretched to its limit by more than six months of ongoing war with Iran.

CNN said the US military is currently concentrating its forces around the Strait of Hormuz and is wary of becoming deeply entangled in another front.

With midterm elections approaching in November, President Donald Trump is already grappling with rising gasoline prices stemming from the war with Iran. The Houthi rebels' advance on the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait appears likely to deepen those troubles.

A US official said hundreds of members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are currently operating alongside the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Their ultimate goal, the official said, is to blockade the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The Bab-el-Mandeb Strait has served as an energy transport route that bypasses the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com