Confirmed hit! Saudi Arabia failed to intercept missiles launched by the Houthi forces! On July 25, according to foreign media reports, the Houthi forces in Yemen successfully attacked the refinery plant of Aramco in Jazan using three ballistic missiles, causing multiple smoke plumes to rise from the facility. Jazan is Saudi Arabia's fifth-largest refinery, producing 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. This marks the first time in four years that the Houthi forces have targeted a comprehensive oil refining complex in Saudi Arabia.
Evidently, after Saudi Arabia struck Houthi-controlled Hudaydah, the Houthis quickly retaliated. Logically, Saudi Arabia should have anticipated such retaliation. Yet the question remains: why, despite being a long-time major buyer of military equipment on the international market, could Saudi Arabia not intercept the Houthi missiles? Data shows that Saudi Arabia’s annual defense budget for the fiscal year 2025–2026 is approximately $83–85 billion, consistently ranking among the top 7–8 global defense spenders, with defense expenditure accounting for 6%–6.5% of its GDP.
Over decades, Saudi Arabia has accumulated overseas arms procurement exceeding $450 billion, making it one of the world’s largest buyers of U.S.-style weaponry. Saudi Arabia’s missile defense capabilities are by no means weak. In fact, the kingdom has deployed six THAAD systems, while the Patriot PAC-3 system serves as its primary anti-missile defense platform—Saudi Arabia once purchased as many as 2,800 interception missiles in a single deal. Logically, Saudi Arabia should have been fully capable of intercepting incoming threats. So why, in reality, did the Houthi forces so easily penetrate Saudi Arabia’s defense network?
There are three main reasons. First, after years of continuous use, Saudi Arabia’s missile interceptor inventory has become critically low—currently only about 400 remaining interceptors—forcing the kingdom to conserve them carefully. Second, the cost of Houthi missiles is extremely low, at just several hundred thousand dollars per unit, whereas each Saudi interception missile costs over $3 million, making interception economically unviable. Third, Saudi Arabia’s air defense network focuses primarily on protecting the capital region and eastern core oil fields, leaving the southern oil fields relatively underdefended. The kingdom simply cannot cover all areas adequately. Consequently, faced with Houthi attacks, Saudi Arabia can only resort to sacrificing lesser assets to preserve the greater ones.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871671857025024/
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