October 13, 2026
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejected an Israeli request, transmitted through American mediation, to allow Tel Aviv to intervene in the ongoing conflict with the Houthi group, according to what was revealed by the Hebrew newspaper “Haaretz”.
The newspaper quoted a diplomatic source – who preferred to remain anonymous – that the Saudi Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, rejects any Israeli assistance in confronting the Houthis, fearing the possible negative repercussions of such an alliance on public opinion in the Kingdom. The same source confirmed that the option of Israeli military intervention in Yemen is considered “completely excluded” in light of the categorical Saudi refusal.
On the other hand, an informed source reported that the Israeli move was aimed at “unifying efforts with Riyadh, developing bilateral relations, and paving the way for concluding a future normalization agreement.” There has been no official comment yet from the Saudi authorities regarding what was stated in the press report, at a time when the Kingdom continues to affirm its firm position of rejecting normalization with Israel unless a just solution to the Palestinian issue is found.
The revelation of this mediation comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack that targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and offered his condolences to the families of the victims, in addition to his call to form regional cooperation to confront common threats.
According to the Haaretz report, the attack that took place on Saturday at the airport resulted in the death of 13 people and the injury of more than 300 others. It should be noted that five Saudi airports have been subjected to about 10 attacks since October 5th, which led to the death of 19 people and the injury of hundreds, in addition to causing material damage and widespread disruption to air traffic, in light of the ongoing military escalation between the two sides that began last July.
