Houthis helped Iraqi militias hit Saudi oil sites in July, officials say

Cairo,UPDATED: Sep 9, 2026 10:44 IST

Regional officials say Yemen's Houthi rebels helped Iran-backed militias in Iraq plan and carry out a two-day drone swarm attack on Saudi oil facilities in July, pointing to a new level of coordination between the groups. Saudi Arabia and the United States later bombed the militias in Iraq after blaming them for the strikes, which had been claimed by the Houthis.

The development comes as officials and experts say Iran is relying more on the Houthis and Iraqi militias after armed groups on Israel's frontiers suffered major losses in the wars that followed Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack from Gaza. They say Tehran is using the two groups to threaten Saudi Arabia and other US allies in the Gulf and raise the cost of the war launched by the US and Israel in February.

That strategy appears to be carrying risks for the region. On Tuesday, a wave of Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities threatened to reignite full-scale war with the kingdom. In Iraq, the government has ordered militias to disarm by the end of this month, though powerful Iran-backed groups have refused, and a new US effort to economically isolate Iran could add to the pressure.

The Houthi role in the July attack was confirmed by two Saudi officials citing intelligence and by a senior Iraqi security official. They said Houthi emissaries worked in an operations room run by Iraqi militias. Saudi Arabia and the US then carried out joint airstrikes that killed at least 20 Iraqi fighters, six Iranian advisers and at least one Houthi official. The death of the Houthi official, which had not been previously reported, was confirmed by a Houthi official and an Iraqi militia member. A US military official said Houthis had also been killed in earlier strikes in Iraq and said Washington was concerned about their presence there and their ability to launch attacks on other countries, including Saudi Arabia.

Two officials from the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of militias that is officially part of Iraq's security forces, denied involvement in the attack on Saudi Arabia and denied that the Houthis were operating under its auspices. The PMF includes powerful militias backed by Iran that sometimes act independently. All the officials and the militia member spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The Houthis did not respond to a request for comment.

Officials said cooperation between Iraqi militias and the more organised Houthis had grown throughout the war in Gaza, when they coordinated attacks on Israel. At the height of the war, Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi spoke of a joint operations room. After the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, Iran and its allies began firing on Gulf nations to widen the conflict and hurt major oil producers hosting American forces. In June, Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Iran's parliament speaker, wrote on social media: "Iran has a hybrid strategy in the current war. We are not fighting on one front and we are not using one tool." Ahmed Nagi, senior Yemen analyst at Crisis Group, said: "The Houthis' growing prominence during the Gaza war opened up a new horizon in Iraq. Many groups there became eager to support the Houthis, and in return, the Houthis started sharing their military expertise with Iraqi militias." He added that they are now "squeezing Saudi like with pliers".

A week before the drone swarm attack, the Houthis announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, threatening another key trade route as disruption in the Strait of Hormuz shook the global economy. Since late July, they have carried out more than a dozen attacks on Saudi oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea, according to the conflict monitor ACLED. On Tuesday, they launched another wave of attacks on oil and other facilities in southern Saudi Arabia, wounding more than 70 people, including women and children, Saudi authorities said. ACLED said the blockade has pushed Saudi Arabia to adopt a "dark" transit policy, including switching off tracking signals on oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia had shifted much of its oil traffic to the Red Sea after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. When Houthi attacks began there, the kingdom started sending more oil north towards the Suez Canal and Egypt's SUMED pipeline. According to shipping monitor Kpler, flows on that route rose from 650,000 barrels a day in June to more than 1.9 million in August. Last month, the Houthis showed they could also hit that route by striking a Saudi tanker in the northern Red Sea with a missile. The tanker had reportedly travelled from Yanbu to the Suez Canal, about 1,000 kilometres from Houthi territory. Adam Baron, a Yemen expert at New America, said the Houthis "are willing to weather some shorter term pain for what they feel will be longer term gains". He added: "The train to a return to full scale war has left the station, and it's unclear if anyone is going to jump in to stop it," citing the US focus on Iran and Saudi reluctance to intervene in Yemen again.

The Houthis also have their own reasons for fighting Saudi Arabia. They seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014, and the Saudis joined Yemen's internationally recognised government in a counteroffensive the following year, likely fearing a Hezbollah-like group on its border. UN estimates say the civil war has killed at least 150,000 people and at times pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, while a ceasefire that had mostly held since 2022 is now in tatters. For years, a Saudi-led blockade has increased pressure on the Houthis while also taking a heavy toll on people in rebel-held parts of Yemen. Elisabeth Kendall, a Yemen expert at Cambridge University's Girton College, said the Houthis have often responded by escalating hostilities and that renewed fighting could help them gain control of energy-rich areas in eastern Yemen.

The Houthis, who control northern and central Yemen, have also spent years bringing in advanced weapons despite the blockade and a UN arms embargo. Iran denies arming them, but Iranian-made weapons have been found on battlefields and in intercepted shipments. The group has cruise and ballistic missiles, drones and unmanned submarines. Saudi-backed forces in Yemen are fighting on several fronts, including around the key port city of Hodeida and in Taiz province along the west coast, while the Houthis have attacked Mokha, the main Red Sea port still held by the government. Kendall said Saudi Arabia appeared reluctant to target the Houthis directly again, but if the rebels kept escalating, "it will have to act decisively once and for all".

The wider picture, officials and experts say, is of closer coordination between the Houthis and Iraqi militias as Iran looks for new ways to pressure Saudi Arabia and other US allies in the Gulf. With attacks widening across sea routes, oil infrastructure and battlefronts, the conflict is becoming harder to contain.

With PTI Inputs

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