Saudi Arabia may support a major Yemeni offensive against the Houthis while avoiding direct involvement due to the risks of another war.

The Yemen crisis has become a regional confrontation, with the Houthis leveraging Yemen’s strategic position while Saudi Arabia and international actors seek to prevent wider escalation.

Clashes in al-Wazi’iyah reflect a power struggle between Tareq Affash’s militia forces and local tribes over control and influence in a strategically important area, amid wider regional tensions involving the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis in Yemen have emerged as one of Iran’s most visible and consequential regional proxies, stepping beyond a local war to become a key player closely tied to the calculations of an increasingly internationalized confrontation.

A Saudi-Turkish-Egyptian alignment is taking shape as an emerging axis, seeking to translate coordination into concrete action on the ground.