Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a welcome ceremony at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, as part of a two-day official visit to France, August 24, 2026. (AP File Photo)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has rejected an Israeli push to join the military campaign against Yemen’s Houthi group, despite efforts to secure Riyadh’s approval through U.S. mediation, the Israeli media has reported.
The daily, citing an unnamed diplomatic source, said the crown prince was not interested in Israeli military assistance, fearing that cooperation with Israel could provoke a negative reaction among the Saudi public.
Another source familiar with the matter said Israel hoped military cooperation with Saudi Arabia would strengthen bilateral ties and pave the way for a future normalization agreement.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on the report.
Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and has maintained that normalization depends on resolving the Palestinian issue, including the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The report comes amid escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including repeated strikes on airports that have caused casualties and disrupted flights.
An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Oct. 10 killed 13 people and injured more than 300 others.
Another attack on the same airport on Oct. 11 killed a Pakistani resident and injured 11 others, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation.
The escalation began in July following a period of relative calm after a U.N.-brokered truce took effect in April 2022.
Yemen has been at war since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014 before a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the country’s internationally recognized government.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has launched an investigation to determine how its air defenses failed to intercept a barrage of missiles and drones fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, including an attack on Riyadh airport that killed at least 13 people and wounded over 300.
The officials said the initial probe showed that Yemen’s Houthis first fired multiple drones to pave the way for a mix of cruise and ballistic missiles to reach Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport.
The Houthis possess ballistic missiles and advanced systems fitted with warheads that can change direction during flight and pose a challenge to Patriot interceptors and other defense systems used by the Saudis.
One of the officials said the investigation also aims to find out why air defense systems did not provide earlier warning of the attack in which the Houthi missiles and drones flew over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to reach Riyadh.
