Bin Salman, according to Haaretz, rejected Israeli aid against the Houthis — Interia

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Interia, rejected an Israeli offer of military assistance in fighting Yemen’s Houthis, conveyed through the United States. The outlet cites a diplomatic source of the Haaretz newspaper. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to this information, seeks to use the situation to move closer to Riyadh.

Contacts through the United States

Israel and Saudi Arabia have no official diplomatic relations, but cooperate to a limited extent on security issues. In September, Israeli media reported that, at Riyadh’s request, Israel began transmitting intelligence through the United States to protect the kingdom’s strategic infrastructure from Houthi attacks.

According to Haaretz’s diplomatic source, bin Salman did not agree to the offer due to fears of a negative reaction from Saudi society to military cooperation with Israel. Netanyahu views such interaction as an opportunity to bring closer the normalization of relations between the two states.

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Normalization conditions and attacks

Riyadh links a possible understanding with Israel to progress in the establishment of a Palestinian state. US President Donald Trump is seeking Saudi Arabia’s accession to the Abraham Accords, concluded in 2020 at Washington’s initiative. Under these agreements, Israel established diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and later Morocco.

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition that intervened in the war in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis after they seized the capital and drove out the internationally recognized government. In recent days, the Houthis have intensified attacks on the kingdom: during Saturday’s shelling of the airport in Riyadh, 12 people were killed and another 309 were injured, according to Interia.