Why Saudi Arabia's Billion-Dollar Army Is LOSING Against Houthis? Top 5 Blunders Of MBS And Trump

Why Saudi Arabia is struggling against Houthis despite having high-tech weapons and strong army? That is the topic which we'll try to decode today. Saudi Arabia is one of the top 10 arms spenders in the world. It has Patriot missiles, F-15 fighter jets and the latest missile interceptor. It has spent decades building all of this and yet in the last few days, Missiles and drones from the Houthis in Yemen have been landing deep inside the kingdom and people are dying So how does a country with so much firepower and up this exposed? Let's break it down first what actually happened the Houthis have hit Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Tuesday October 13 They struck a Dhahran headquarters of Saudi Aramco the world's biggest oil company Then came Saturday a cruise missile hit a domestic airport terminal in Riyadh 13 people were killed and more than 300 were injured. It was the worst attack on Saudi Arabia in over a decade and it isn't stopping. On Thursday, Saudi authorities said they destroyed a drone in the eastern province and a cruise missile over the Medina region. The Houthis, although have denied targeting Medina, there are a few reasons for it. Reason number one, wrong direction. Now why is this working? The biggest reason is simple, Saudi Arabia was looking at the wrong way. For years, Saudi defences were built around one idea. The big threat would come from the east or northeast. That means Iran or Iraq. So, the radars, the missile batteries and the warning systems were placed with that in mind. But the Houthis are in Yemen, which is to the south-west. Military analysts, as reported by the New York Times, say this left the Kingdom's force to a surprise from a side it wasn't ready for. Think of it like a house with a very strong front door and a weak back window. It doesn't matter how strong the front door is if the attacker comes through the window. The second reason is cheap and hard to see. The second reason is the kind of weapons being used. The Houthis are not relying on huge high flying missiles, they are using cheap drones and low flying cruise missiles and these are very hard to detect. Radar works in straight lines and the earth is curved so something flying very low can slip under the radar until it's close to its target. Small drones also barely show up on radar at all. So Saudi Arabia's expensive systems were designed for a different kind of threat. So the Saudi forces are struggling to even see what's coming. The third reason is what experts call the glitter effect. It means buying weapons that look impressive and powerful. Advanced jets, top-of-the-line interceptors, they show strength and build prestige. But looking powerful isn't the same as being protected. a fighter jet can't easily stop a swarm of small drones and a patriot battery can't guard each and every airport every oil facility and every city at the same time so the Houthis are hitting exactly where it hurts by going around the expensive hardware instead of going through it here's the fourth problem and this one is the general military logic a cheap drone can cost a few thousand dollars an advanced interceptor missile can cost millions so if Saudi Arabia fires an an expensive missile at every cheap drone. It loses the money back even when it shoots them down. Interceptors are limited and they take time to replace. We have seen this same thing play out during America, Iran and Israel war and even Russia versus Ukraine war and the Houthis don't need to win every time. They just need one weapon to get through. That's what happened in the Riyadh terminal. The fifth reason is too many problems at once. That means the bigger picture because this isn't happening in isolation. The region is already in turmoil because of tensions between the United States and Iran. The Strait of Hormuz has been blockaded. So Saudi Arabia started depending on another route, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, between the Yemen and Africa to ship oil to Asia. The Houthis are now targeting oil shipments there too. So they are pressuring Saudi Arabia on two fronts, its land and its export lifeline. On top of that, there is a The rift between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE. And it raises questions about how firmly Trump is backing Saudi Arabia, though the UAE was a key partner in the Yemen war, so any rift could matter mostly. We have to understand how we got here. To understand the anger on both sides, we need to go back to 2015. That year, Saudi Arabia led a military campaign in Yemen to push out the Houthis and restore the Yemeni government. Riyadh was worried about Iran's growing influence and instability on its southern border, but it didn't work out as planned. Instead, it turned into one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises. With years of fighting and airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and its partners, including the UAE, in 2022, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire. But this year, with the US-Iran tensions, the fighting flared up again. Both sides are talking tough. Houthi spokesperson Yassin said their operations will continue in an escalating manner towards the Saudi interior until Riyadh stops striking Yemen and Sana'a. Saudi Arabia has promised a response that is equally serious. Those are the words of Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman. So, to sum it up, Saudi Arabia isn't vulnerable because it lacks weapons. It's vulnerable because of a mismatch. Defences were built to face east, but the attack came from the south. The second reason, it has expensive systems and the enemy is using cheap, low, hard-to-spot weapons. 3. Stopping cheap drones with costly missiles is a losing trade over time. And 4. A wider regional crisis is adding pressure from every side. The lesson is that spending the most on weapons doesn't automatically keep you safe. What matters is what your defense fits the threat you actually face. Thank you viewers for watching this explainer. Keep watching One India News for latest international news.