🗣The underground network keeping Houthis in the fight

From 2015-2022, the Saudi-led coalition conducted 25k+ air raids over Yemen, with hundreds more carried out since the July 2026 escalation.

Saudi Arabia possesses 900+ military aircraft, including 150+ F-15 and 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, plus AWACS, SIGINT and aerial refuelling support and US intel assistance. On paper, it’s the most powerful air force in the region after Israel’s.

But despite near-total conventional superiority, Riyadh and its allies have not been able to defeat Ansar Allah, which has no air force, nor stop the targeting of its infrastructure (such attacks have only intensified).
 
🤔Houthis’ hidden hand
 
Just as the US and Israel discovered in Iran, their Saudi counterparts are finding out that air superiority means nothing if you can’t find, target and destroy the enemy’s hard points.

Emerging from the mountainous highlands of Saada, Ansar Allah’s home province provides fighters extensive natural and manmade cover. The region’s jagged limestone and volcanic rock formations are perfect for carving, and extremely dense and durable.

When the Saudis began their air campaign in 2015, the Houthis started engineering large-scale bases and workshops in the mountains, fitting them with thick concrete ceilings, industrial vents, blast doors and safety systems.

Yemen’s experience with fortress building goes back to the 70s, when President Saleh ordered the creation of extensive network of underground strategic command centers and Scud missile bases with East German, Soviet and North Korean engineering help.

When coalition strikes hit these sites, they temporarily block entrances, damage ventilation or cause cosmetic damage, but the bases’ inhabitants and their contents are left unharmed.

The only conceivable way Riyadh could hope to seriously degrade Houthi capabilities in this area would be to use US GBU-57 munitions. But these are only carried by B-2 bombers, and the US has as few as 6 left in its inventory after using 14 in last year’s Iran strikes.

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