The Houthis are becoming less dependent on Tehran and increasingly capable of acting on their own, creating what a former U.S. envoy described Thursday as a “clear and very present danger” internationally as the group rebuilds its weapons arsenal and improves its ability to launch precise strikes.
The assessment followed a series of deadly Houthi missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia, along with mounting concerns about threats to commercial shipping and vital infrastructure across the Middle East.
Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said Thursday that Houthi attacks targeting Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport killed 17 people and wounded 333 between Oct. 7 and Oct. 11.
During a news briefing in Riyadh, al-Maliki said the Oct. 10 assault included 10 drones, missiles and other airborne projectiles.
“King Khalid International Airport has been targeted 20 times since Oct. 1,” he said.
Tim Lenderking, who served as the U.S. special envoy for Yemen from 2021 through 2025 and was assigned to Saudi Arabia between 2013 and 2016, said Saudi officials had warned American leaders more than a decade ago that the Houthis could become a serious security threat. He believes that forecast has now come true.
The Houthis are increasingly operating independently of Tehran, posing a “clear and very present danger” internationally as the group rebuilds its arsenal and advances its strike capabilities. (Handout from Houthi Media Center via Getty Images)
“The Saudis were very clear with our leaders that they saw the Houthis as a major threat,” Lenderking recalled of his time in the kingdom.
He said the movement was then “quietly building up its capability” while developing a broader ideological message to justify its push for power in Yemen as a northern Yemeni group with a distinct agenda and mission.
The Houthis began as a religious and political movement in Yemen during the 1990s. Their relationship with Iran evolved into a military partnership after 2014, when Tehran increased its support and training during Yemen’s civil war.
“The Houthis don’t really need the Iranians anymore,” said Lenderking, a former acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. He stressed, however, that Iran’s support remained “a very important relationship” that helped transform the group into the formidable force it is today.
Lenderking, now a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute, said the Houthis gradually built an indigenous weapons and operational infrastructure of their own while taking advantage of divisions among Gulf states.
The latest missile and drone barrage against King Khalid International Airport on Saturday also raised questions about whether President Donald Trump could be pulled into a wider Middle East conflict as Riyadh seeks additional U.S. support.
When asked whether the United States would protect Saudi Arabia from future Houthi attacks, Trump replied, “You’ll find out soon.”
Smoke and flames rise over King Khalid International Airport after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on the Riyadh airport in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 8, 2026. (Reuters)
At an MEI briefing, Lenderking said the Houthis’ advanced weapons and increasingly accurate targeting have changed the group’s profile from a local insurgency into a threat with international consequences.
“They can strike across the region, including as far north as the upper Red Sea,” Lenderking said. “This is a regional problem, particularly because the Houthis control Yemen’s western coastline.”
“It is now an international problem.”
Lenderking pointed to the accuracy of the Riyadh airport assault as a sign of how much the Houthis’ capabilities have improved since earlier attacks carried out during the Gaza conflict.
“They are now able to hit targets more accurately. They struck Terminal Four at Riyadh Airport with remarkable specificity,” he said. “That represents a clear and very present danger.”
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The Houthis reportedly launched multiple drones followed by cruise and ballistic missiles that traveled more than 620 miles to Riyadh, prompting an investigation into possible Saudi air defense failures, according to The Associated Press, citing regional officials.
Saudi forces intercepted two more ballistic missiles targeting Riyadh on Monday. On Tuesday, a Houthi strike caused damage to Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, sparking a fire that spread across several floors, Reuters reported.
Lenderking said the Houthis have built extensive weapons supply chains, smuggling networks and domestic financing operations that allow them to sustain attacks without relying solely on Tehran.
Houthi supporters demonstrate in solidarity with Iran, amid a two-week ceasefire between U.S. and Iran, in Sanaa, Yemen, April 10, 2026. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)
“They get a lot of supplies off the open market through the internet, through commercial exchanges. They have a very well entrenched smuggling network, from big boats onto small boats, onto tiny boats, on the pack animals, on people’s backs.
“They are able to move things undetected through government terrain, even through various borders and with a lot of wide open space there. They are constantly moving, building, resupplying, restocking, innovating.”
The group’s self-sufficiency also extends to financing. Lenderking said the Houthis generate revenue through black-market oil sales, taxation and extortion while also forcing families to provide recruits, allowing the group to continue fighting even if Iranian assistance is cut off.
“They have had support from Iran over the years, so they have money in the bank from that,” Lenderking said.
“They relied on sales of black market oil in the past. They extort Yemeni transport companies, businesses. They tax people in areas that they control. They force many families to offer up a son to fight on the front lines.”
The Houthis’ expanding arsenal has raised concerns about potential Chinese involvement in their weapons supply networks.
Tim Lenderking, who served as U.S. special envoy for Yemen from 2021 to 2025 and was posted to Saudi Arabia from 2013 to 2016, said Saudi officials had warned more than a decade ago that the Houthis would become a major threat, a prediction he says has now materialized. (Houthi Media Center via Getty Images)
Yemen’s government has accused the rebels of seeking Chinese components for medium-range ballistic missiles, raising concerns about the group’s access to advanced military technology.
“There is a Chinese connection here that’s very detrimental,” Lenderking warned, adding that front companies have helped the group obtain weapons through commercial channels.
Lenderking warned that the Houthis could also target Saudi energy facilities, pipelines and desalination plants, infrastructure critical to the kingdom’s economy and water supply.
“The Houthis have hit pipelines,” he said. “They have diesel plants and other energy infrastructure in their sights.”
Attacks on such facilities could disrupt global energy markets, maritime commerce and regional stability.
The Houthis also control Yemen’s western coastline along the Red Sea, a vital shipping corridor connecting Europe and Asia.
With the rebels now capable of striking targets hundreds of miles away, Lenderking warned that the threat extends far beyond Yemen’s borders.
“One blast at Riyadh Airport is a huge statement,” the expert said.
“That’s why I come back to the fact that this is an international conflict,” he said, adding that “immediate action is required.”