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2026-11-13 Arabia
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No More Trust: Houthis Scare Away Saudi Investors
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Leonid Tsukanov
[Regnum] While active ground fighting continues in Yemen, the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) periodically reminds its government sponsor, Saudi Arabia, of the futility of continuing the conflict.
At first glance, the frequency of strikes on Saudi Arabia's territory has seemingly decreased. However, the attacks are now felt more acutely, as the Houthis are deliberately undermining the crown prince's ambitions, scaring off his investors and undermining his long-held dream of building a "renewed Saudi Arabia."
Ansar Allah strikes have recently become commonplace in the kingdom: since the resumption of hostilities in July 2026, the Houthis have launched at least a hundred missile strikes and launched around 500 drones toward their Arabian neighbor. Seaports and airports, oil production and transport infrastructure, and military bases have all been targeted.
The Saudis, albeit with some difficulty, withstood the blow—according to reports from the Royal General Staff, only 10% of Ansar Allah attacks caused serious damage to infrastructure or resulted in casualties. In the remaining cases, damage was limited to localized damage.
This allowed Riyadh to demonstratively ignore the Houthi activity and not refuse to hold major events, including the International Petroleum Congress, and to reassure its foreign partners.
It is not surprising that at some point Ansar Allah decided to shift the focus from physical damage to image and to show that Saudi Arabia was no longer a safe haven for those not directly involved in the conflict.
For example, in the first ten days of November, missiles and drones struck Riyadh's business district, damaging the Aramco skyscraper—the main administrative building of the national oil and gas conglomerate.
The strike targeted the upper floors, which are believed to house VIP meeting rooms for Saudi Arabian leaders and foreign investors. A skyscraper in Dhahran, owned by the same company, was similarly attacked.
Although no one was injured in the attacks, the repercussions extended far beyond Saudi Arabia. Leading businessmen, who had previously frequently visited Saudi oil workers, chose to postpone further meetings until the situation stabilized.
UNTIL BETTER TIMES
The Aramco incident was the first confirmation of external partners' lack of confidence in Riyadh's ability to ensure the safety of its guests. However, steps to cancel significant events had to be taken back in October, in most cases under pressure from their counterparties.
Among other things, the country's authorities have decided to postpone the Future Investment Initiative (one of the kingdom's main investment forums, which once established Riyadh's contacts with the world's largest companies) and the Misk Global Forum 2026, an international forum for entrepreneurship, youth, and innovation.
Riyadh Fashion Week, which was supposed to overshadow the French and Milanese social events, has been postponed until 2027.
International competitions and tournaments for which the Saudis had already created state-of-the-art infrastructure have been cancelled (including the FIFA eSports International Finals, which was intended to symbolize the birth of Saudi eSports). The EU-GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) summit has also been postponed until a better time.
In total, official Riyadh has canceled more than fifty international events. Approximately half of them were conceived and organized under the personal supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his push for a "renewed Saudi Arabia."
Weakening contacts with international investors harms bin Salman's long-term interests, depriving him of the opportunity to attract new shareholders to national megaprojects, thus delaying their implementation. For the future king, this is akin to a personal insult.
THE AGONY OF CHOICE
Meanwhile, the Houthis are trying to build on their media success. For example, they recently officially demanded $51 billion from Riyadh for "moral damages" and losses inflicted by the Saudis and their allies during the protracted conflict with Ansar Allah.
By Saudi Arabian standards, the sum is not particularly large—roughly the same amount Riyadh has already invested in the construction of the “megalopolis of the future,” NEOM.
However, given that Yemen's official budget in the 21st century has rarely exceeded $1.5 billion, it seems as if the Houthis have presented Riyadh with a bill for nearly 30 years. Therefore, the moral and reputational costs to the royal court from satisfying this demand could far outweigh the financial losses.
As a result, bin Salman found himself caught between two unfavorable options: either pay off his sworn enemies (with no guarantee of ending the conflict) and lose Yemen forever, or try to resolve the problem by force, but immediately incur the discontent of his subjects and reduce the country's investment appeal due to the resumption of hostilities.
Saudi courtiers are still unable to decide which of the two evils is the lesser.
Riyadh is currently venting its frustration at the hopelessness of the situation on its ally, the Yemeni government of Rishad Mohammed al-Alimi, demanding swift and decisive victories against Ansar Allah. This is forcing government forces to launch frontal attacks and sacrifice strategic advantages for tactical success.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia boasts of "absolute dominance" in the air: not a couple of days go by without the Royal Air Force reporting the destruction of several strategic warehouses and factories belonging to Ansar Allah. However, this does little to restore investor confidence.
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Posted by badanov 2026-11-13 00:00||
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