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Why the Houthis are ramping up their attacks on Saudi Arabia · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Officials in Saudi Arabia say Yemen's Houthis attacked the headquarters
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  Speaker 1: of state oil giant Aramco. They say a fire resulted
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  Speaker 1: from that strike, but officials say no one was injured, fortunately.
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  Speaker 1: It was not immediately clear whether the building was directly
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  Speaker 1: hit or if it was damaged by falling debris from
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  Speaker 1: intercepted missiles. This marks the latest escalation between the two
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  Speaker 1: sides following a week of deadly Houthi missile and drone
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  Speaker 1: attacks that shut Riyadh's main international airport down. Let's go
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  Speaker 1: live now to CNN International diplomatic editor Nick Robertson. Nick,
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  Speaker 1: what more can you tell us about this latest attack?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the very latest attack really seems to have been
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  Speaker 2: an effort by the Houthis to double down on their threats.
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  Speaker 2: They said in the one afternoon that they would attack
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  Speaker 2: the international airport while drones were intercepted north of there.
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  Speaker 2: Ballistic missiles also came in later in the day, intercepted
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  Speaker 2: as well. That was in the capital Riyadh. They said
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  Speaker 2: that they would target an Aramco facility in the capital Riyadh.
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  Speaker 2: Those seem to have been intercepted as well. But it
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  Speaker 2: was in the east of the country where Aramco has
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  Speaker 2: a large, sprawling headquarters. It's like a mini town. I've
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  Speaker 2: been in there. It's absolutely vast. And that's where the
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  Speaker 2: Houthis also said that they would target. And then later
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  Speaker 2: in the day, missiles intercepted over there. The Saudi government
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  Speaker 2: saying debris fell on an administrative building. But images seem
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  Speaker 2: to indicate a lot of fire. The latest thing that
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  Speaker 2: we're hearing from the region is that the Houthis have
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  Speaker 2: targeted the seat of the internationally recognized Yemeni government in Aden,
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  Speaker 2: which is their sort of alternate capital because the Houthis
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  Speaker 2: have control of the main capital in Yemen. They've targeted
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  Speaker 2: there what's known as the presidential palace, which is where
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  Speaker 2: the prime minister works out of. And according to the
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  Speaker 2: Yemeni government, a couple of security forces. officials were injured there.
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  Speaker 2: The bigger picture that I'm getting at the moment, talking
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  Speaker 2: to diplomats from the region, is not to expect a
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  Speaker 2: sudden rush of Saudi ground forces into Yemen, not to
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  Speaker 2: expect their international partners like Turkey or Pakistan to be
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  Speaker 2: doing the same thing. Think of the Saudis trying to
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  Speaker 2: sort of build a bigger, broader international coalition of support
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  Speaker 2: because of these strikes in the capital. And we've just
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  Speaker 2: heard from the military spokesman in the past couple of
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  Speaker 2: hours saying 17 people total over the past week or
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  Speaker 2: so have been killed in Riyadh International Airport, the King
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  Speaker 2: Khalid International Airport there. So this seems to be where
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  Speaker 2: the conflict is at. But all these diplomats I'm talking
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  Speaker 2: to are saying that the Houthis are absolutely not working
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  Speaker 2: directly for Iran here. But Iran wants them to heat
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  Speaker 2: up the temperature because the U.S. midterms are coming. They
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  Speaker 2: want to put pressure on the price of gas. They
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  Speaker 2: want to put that pressure on President Trump. This is
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  Speaker 2: why they say that the Iranians at this time are
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  Speaker 2: hitting more shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. So all
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  Speaker 2: of this is part of a much broader, bigger picture.
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  Speaker 2: But the big takeaway that I've got from the sources
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  Speaker 2: I'm talking to today is don't expect this to be
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  Speaker 2: over by the midterms. Expect it to roll on through
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  Speaker 2: a lot more of President Trump's presidency while the Iranians
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  Speaker 2: try to get what they want out of any deal
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  Speaker 2: that President Trump might strike with them. He may want
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  Speaker 2: it quickly. The Iranians, from everything I'm hearing, absolutely don't
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  Speaker 2: and are willing to play this out over the long term.
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  Speaker 1: Nick Robertson, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 2: Wolf?
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  Speaker 3: Everything I'm hearing, this war is going to escalate big
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  Speaker 3: time in the coming days and weeks. Joining us now
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  Speaker 3: here in the Situation Room is CNN military analyst, retired U.S.
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  Speaker 3: Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton. Good morning, Colonel. Thanks for
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  Speaker 3: joining us. How should the U.S.
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  Speaker 4: React?
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  Speaker 3: To these escalations between the Saudis and the Houthis and
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  Speaker 3: what's going on, these attacks against the Aramco headquarters in
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  Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia. That's a big deal.
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  Speaker 5: That's a really big deal, Wolf. And good morning. There
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  Speaker 5: are so many different aspects to this. But the key
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  Speaker 5: thing for the U.S., I think, is to make sure
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  Speaker 5: that they stabilize the situation. especially when it comes to
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  Speaker 5: Saudi Arabia, because if Saudi Arabia were to collapse, it
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  Speaker 5: would be an absolute disaster for the United States and
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  Speaker 5: really for the Western world. So what they have to do,
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  Speaker 5: while we look at some of the lesser desirable aspects
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  Speaker 5: of the Saudi regime, they are a bulwark against the Iranians,
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  Speaker 5: and they also are a bulwark against Iranian proxies such
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  Speaker 5: as the Houthis. So one of the things that has
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  Speaker 5: to happen is they definitely have to beef up intelligence
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  Speaker 5: sharing with the Saudis, They also have to find a
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  Speaker 5: way to get more interceptor missiles to the Saudis so
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  Speaker 5: that they can basically protect all of the areas, and
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  Speaker 5: especially something like the Aramco headquarters. As you mentioned, that
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  Speaker 5: is a huge deal. of note that the Iranians attacked
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  Speaker 5: it using cyber means several years ago with the Shamoon virus.
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  Speaker 5: And so they know that Aramco and similar installations are
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  Speaker 5: going to be targets either kinetically or non-kinetically by the
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  Speaker 5: Iranians and their proxies. So that's the kind of thing
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  Speaker 5: that we have to be prepared for.
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  Speaker 3: Like you, I've been to Saudi Arabia. They have an
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  Speaker 3: impressive military. The Saudis are a very capable air force,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of offensive military equipment. Can't the Saudis simply
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  Speaker 3: go into Yemen and destroy the Houthis?
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  Speaker 5: Well, it's one thing to have the equipment. It's another
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  Speaker 5: thing to actually have the tactics, techniques, and procedures that
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  Speaker 5: are necessary to actually defeat an enemy like the Houthis.
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  Speaker 5: So the Houthis are fighting an unconventional war. They are
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  Speaker 5: basically masters of asymmetric warfare, and they're doing it in
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  Speaker 5: a way that is rather unique. It's basically tailored to
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  Speaker 5: the Yemeni environment, high mountains, rugged, austere terrain, and they're
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  Speaker 5: very good at that. The Saudis... are not willing to
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  Speaker 5: commit ground troops at this particular point in time, as
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  Speaker 5: Nick was mentioning in his report. They're going to try
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  Speaker 5: to do things via air power.
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  Speaker 3: But can't they destroy the Houthis simply with air power?
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  Speaker 5: Enormous bombing campaigns? It's very unlikely. They can destroy a
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  Speaker 5: lot of things. They can destroy some of the main
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  Speaker 5: installations that the Houthis are using. But the Houthis will
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  Speaker 5: then just basically go underground, literally in this case, because
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  Speaker 5: they have a lot of tunnels. They kind of borrowed
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  Speaker 5: that idea from the Iranians. And so it's going to
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  Speaker 5: be a much more difficult thing for them to do
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  Speaker 5: to dislodge the Houthis via air power alone. they can
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  Speaker 5: use air power in concert with special operations missions, ground forces,
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  Speaker 5: things like that. But if they want to actually go
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  Speaker 5: in militarily, that's going to require a lot more than
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  Speaker 5: just air power.
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  Speaker 4: Yemen's Houthi rebels are vowing to keep up their attacks
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  Speaker 4: on Saudi airports and oil facilities in the coming days.
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  Speaker 4: The Iran-backed militia have been trading fresh strikes with the
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  Speaker 4: Saudi military.
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  Speaker 6: The Yemeni armed forces carried out, with God's help, a
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  Speaker 6: major military operation targeting Aramco in Dahan in the eastern area,
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  Speaker 6: King Khalid International Airport and Aramco refinery in Riyadh, using
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  Speaker 6: a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles as well
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  Speaker 6: as drones. The strikes were accurate, by God's grace, causing
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  Speaker 6: destruction and fires at the targeted sites. The Yemeni armed
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  Speaker 6: forces confirmed that their operations deep inside Saudi territory will
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  Speaker 6: continue in the coming days by targeting the Saudi enemy's
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  Speaker 6: airports and oil facilities, and its consequences on it will
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  Speaker 6: be severe, God willing.
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  Speaker 4: Yemen's internationally recognized government says it won't negotiate with Houthi
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  Speaker 4: rebels or agree to a ceasefire, but will instead press
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  Speaker 4: ahead with its Dawn of Yemen offensive. The country's foreign
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  Speaker 4: minister said there can be no lasting peace as long
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  Speaker 4: as the Iran-backed Houthis still have weapons. Multiple U.S. officials
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  Speaker 4: say the White House is now considering using the largest
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  Speaker 4: non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. They say the so-called
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  Speaker 4: mother of all bombs could be used to hit energy
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  Speaker 4: infrastructure and nuclear sites. But there are questions now about
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  Speaker 4: whether the move would achieve the U.S. 's strategic objectives
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  Speaker 4: or turn the tide of the war. One source says
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  Speaker 4: President Donald Trump has ordered the military to develop additional
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  Speaker 4: strike options, including using this weapon. But that source says
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  Speaker 4: the phasing of the order indicates the administration may declare
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  Speaker 4: victory and pull out of the war after those strikes.