英国、埃及与以色列正介入协助防卫沙特，利雅得正请求美国提供更多拦截弹
2026年10月21日 美国东部时间7:00 / 福克斯新闻
作者：摩根·菲利普斯
专家解读沙特耗资数十亿打造的防御系统为何难以阻挡胡塞武装袭击——以及为何若无美国更深程度介入，外部援助或无法化解这一威胁。
沙特正求助外国盟友抵御胡塞武装的导弹与无人机，暴露了其军事防御漏洞，这很快可能成为唐纳德·特朗普总统的棘手问题。
英国周二宣布将派遣台风战斗机防卫沙特城市与关键基础设施，埃及已在协助沙特，以色列也已提出介入帮忙。
与此同时，利雅得正请求美国提供更多拦截弹，特朗普正在权衡美国是否应介入并直接打击受伊朗支持的胡塞武装。
此次增援或有助于掩护沙特城市与关键基础设施，但几乎无法消除胡塞武装从也门境内发起袭击的发射装置与武器本身。
沙特外交大臣警告：胡塞威胁已全球化，特朗普按兵不动
也门受伊朗支持的胡塞武装团体警告称，如果海湾国家加入美国-以色列对伊朗的战争，他们将通过导弹与无人机袭击关闭曼德海峡。(穆罕默德·哈穆德/盖蒂图片社)
“我认为目前的基调是防御，或者说以防御为主，”中东研究所高级研究员杰森·坎贝尔告诉福克斯新闻数字频道。
他表示，问题在于这种态势是否会演变为“更具攻击性或动用武力”的行动。
胡塞武装已展现出突破沙特防御的能力。根据武装冲突地点与事件数据项目的统计，本月单周内针对沙特的袭击及未遂袭击次数翻了一番多，自10月5日以来，利雅得、吉赞、奈季兰、达曼和艾卜哈的机场均成为袭击目标。
沙特处于高度戒备：标志性的王国中心大楼因胡塞袭击疏散工作人员
最具破坏性的一次袭击袭击了利雅得的哈立德国王国际机场，造成至少13人死亡、300多人受伤。
其他袭击还针对沙特的能源基础设施，令胡塞武装的行动不仅威胁到沙特的安全，还威胁到沙特多年来竭力塑造的经济稳定形象。
沙特数十年来一直致力于打造该地区最精密的军事力量之一。根据斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所的数据，沙特去年的国防开支估计达832亿美元，位列全球第八大军事支出国。其武器库包括美国制造的F-15战斗机、爱国者导弹防御系统和先进雷达系统。
然而，胡塞武装正在利用沙特及其盟友多年来构建的防御体系与当前面临的武器之间的不匹配问题。
坎贝尔表示，美国及其地区盟友相对较好地准备应对伊朗武器库中的高端装备，包括弹道导弹和其他先进武器。
五角大楼紧急采购10倍数量的导弹，因伊朗战争耗尽库存，威胁应对中国侵略的 readiness
“该地区明显准备不足的，是应对伊朗以及如今胡塞武装构成的一系列低端威胁，”坎贝尔说。
袭击规模也是问题所在。坎贝尔表示，沙特和其他美国盟友在应对弹道导弹和其他威胁时，已经消耗了大量高端拦截弹，而低空飞行的武器也能挑战原本并非为探测它们而设计或校准的雷达与早期预警系统。
美国国务卿马可·卢比奥周二表示，沙特正与全球各国盟友乃至美国军方本身，争夺有限的导弹防御拦截弹供应。
“我今天也与沙特方面进行了交谈；他们需要拦截弹。以色列需要拦截弹。我们也需要拦截弹。世界上每个国家都需要拦截弹，”卢比奥说，并称拦截弹“可能是当前国防领域最抢手的产品”。
卢比奥承认，美国无法满足所有需求。美军必须维持全球各地基地的最低防空需求，而先进拦截弹造价高昂且生产耗时，即便目前产量有所提升。
“我们也有自己的需求，”卢比奥说。
沙特幅员辽阔加剧了这一挑战。这个王国横跨80多万平方英里，城市、机场、石油设施和军事设施遍布广袤领土。
“沙特需要防卫的地域太过广阔，这也凸显了我们在全球面临的更大威胁：一个相对小型的非国家行为体，就能对哪怕是精密且造价极其高昂的军队构成严重挑战，”查塔姆研究所研究员法里亚·阿尔-穆斯里米告诉福克斯新闻数字频道。“胡塞武装无需花费太多就能造成巨大损失。”
这种不平衡也解释了为何沙特越来越多地寻求本国军队之外的保护。但外部援助可能存在局限。
“多年后，所有人都意识到胡塞武装不只是沙特的问题，而是所有人的问题——无论是土耳其、埃及、法国、英国还是其他国家，”阿尔-穆斯里米说。“但我认为，除非美国直接介入，否则这些外部支持不会带来显著的军事改观。”
这让特朗普面临一个可能影响深远的决定：是继续协助沙特抵御来袭袭击，还是更进一步，直接打击胡塞武装。
特朗普已将直接美军行动提上议程。本月早些时候被问及美国是否会加入沙特对胡塞武装的打击时，他表示：“我们可能会。我们正在考虑。”
“我们会做出决定，”特朗普说。“我们行动非常迅速。”
哈立德国王国际机场附近出现烟雾，如图所示，随着地区紧张局势和胡塞袭击升级，沙特的安全担忧加剧。(法新社 via 盖蒂图片社)
但直接美国干预并非没有先例——也引发了关于另一场轰炸运动能达成何种效果的疑问。
2025年，“粗暴骑手行动”针对也门境内的胡塞武装阵地开展了约两个月的行动，之后特朗普在阿曼促成该组织达成协议后叫停了该行动。
“我们已经看到美国对胡塞武装在也门的据点开展了为期60天的轰炸行动，即便有任何实际战略效益，也十分有限，”坎贝尔说。
新的军事行动还会在与伊朗的战争中争夺美国的军事资源。坎贝尔表示，打击胡塞武装需要更明确的目标，且可能需要更广泛的联盟参与。
以色列也提出协助防卫沙特，特朗普已公开鼓励利雅得接受这一提议。但让以色列公开介入这场冲突可能会为沙特带来另一个问题。
“如果我是沙特人，我绝不会接受这样的援助，”阿尔-穆斯里米说。“舆论影响极其棘手。沙特是两座圣寺的守护者，与内塔尼亚胡并肩对抗另一支也门武装组织，对沙特社会大部分群体来说都是不可接受的。”
目前，美国继续向沙特提供情报和目标支援，其盟友则专注于防卫沙特王国。
“集体努力似乎旨在遏制针对沙特王国本身的威胁，”坎贝尔说。
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6406905235112
但正如阿尔-穆斯里米所警告的，即便更强大的防御联盟也未必能消除危险。
“这能让沙特更安全，但无法解决消除胡塞武装威胁这一更大问题。”
此次最新冲突是席卷也门十多年战争的又一章。胡塞武装于2014年占领首都萨那，促使沙特于次年牵头军事干预，打击这支受伊朗支持的团体并支持也门国际公认的政府。
多年的沙特空袭未能将胡塞武装驱逐出境，而该组织在德黑兰的支持下稳步扩展了导弹与无人机能力。冲突最终陷入不稳定的休战状态，今年再度爆发，沙特支持的部队在地面与胡塞武装的推进作战，而胡塞武装越来越多地将战火蔓延至沙特境内。
也门平民再次承受了大部分代价。根据联合国的数据，超过25万人逃离了新一轮战斗。世界卫生组织记录显示，仅在8月至9月的六周战斗中，就有至少674人死亡、近3000人受伤，而在十多年的战争后，已有数百万人面临严重饥饿和流离失所问题。
How Saudi Arabia’s defense vulnerabilities could become Trump’s problem amid Houthi onslaught
Britain, Egypt and Israel are stepping in to help defend the kingdom as Riyadh asks Washington for more interceptors
October 21, 2026 7:00am EDT / Fox News
By Morgan Phillips
Expert explains why billions in Saudi defenses have struggled to stop Houthi attacks — and why outside help may not solve the threat without deeper U.S. involvement.
Saudi Arabia is turning to foreign allies to fend off Houthi missiles and drones, exposing a military vulnerability that could soon become President Donald Trump’s problem.
Britain announced Tuesday it would send Typhoon fighter jets to defend Saudi cities and critical infrastructure, Egypt is already assisting the kingdom and Israel has offered to step-in to help.
Riyadh, meanwhile, is asking Washington for more interceptors, and Trump is weighing whether the U.S. should intervene and strike the Iran-backed Houthis directly.
The reinforcements could help shield Saudi cities and critical infrastructure. They do little, however, to eliminate the Houthi launchers and weapons threatening them from Yemen.
SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS HOUTHI THREAT GOES GLOBAL AS TRUMP HOLDS FIRE
Yemen’s Iran-backed armed Houthi group has warned they will move to shutter the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait through missile-drone attacks if Gulf nations join the US-Israel war on Iran.(Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
“The theme right now, I think, is defensive or defensive-minded,” Jason Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.
The question, he said, is whether that evolves into something “more offensive or kinetic.”
The Houthis have already demonstrated their ability to punch through Saudi defenses. Their strikes and attempted strikes on the kingdom more than doubled in a single week this month, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, with airports in Riyadh, Jizan, Najran, Dammam and Abha targeted since Oct. 5.
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The most devastating barrage struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 300.
Other attacks have targeted Saudi energy infrastructure, turning the Houthi campaign into a threat not only to the kingdom’s security but also to the economic stability Riyadh has spent years trying to project.
Saudi Arabia has spent decades building one of the region’s most sophisticated militaries. Riyadh spent an estimated $83.2 billion on defense last year, making it the eighth-largest military spender in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its arsenal includes U.S.-made F-15 fighter jets, Patriot missile defenses and advanced radar systems.
Yet the Houthis are exploiting a mismatch between the defenses Saudi Arabia and its partners spent years building and the weapons now coming at them.
Campbell said the U.S. and its regional partners had been comparatively well prepared to confront the higher end of Iran’s arsenal, including ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an official state arrival ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court on May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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“What the region was decidedly less prepared for was an array of lower end of the spectrum … threats posed by Iran and now the Houthis,” Campbell said.
The volume is part of the problem. Campbell said Saudi Arabia and other U.S. partners have burned through significant numbers of high-end interceptors against ballistic missiles and other threats, while lower-flying weapons can also challenge radar and early-warning systems that were not necessarily designed or calibrated to detect them.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Riyadh is competing with allies around the world — and the U.S. military itself — for a limited supply of the interceptors needed to defend against missile attacks.
“I also talked to Saudi Arabia today; they’d like interceptors. Israel would like interceptors. We would like interceptors. Every country in the world would like interceptors,” Rubio said, calling them “probably the most in-demand product right now in the defense field.”
The U.S. cannot meet every request, Rubio acknowledged. American forces must maintain minimum air-defense requirements at bases around the world, while the sophisticated interceptors are expensive and take time to manufacture even as production increases.
“We have our own needs too,” Rubio said.
Saudi Arabia’s sheer size compounds the challenge. The kingdom stretches across more than 800,000 square miles, leaving cities, airports, oil facilities and military installations spread across a vast territory.
“Saudi Arabia is a huge geography to protect, and this speaks to a larger threat we’re facing globally: a relatively small nonstate actor can pose a serious challenge to even a sophisticated and extremely expensive military,” Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House, told Fox News Digital. “The Houthis can impose enormous costs without having to spend very much themselves.”
That imbalance helps explain why Saudi Arabia is increasingly looking beyond its own military for protection. But outside assistance may have limits.
“Many years later, everyone is realizing that the Houthis are not just Saudi Arabia’s problem, but everyone’s problem — whether that’s Turkey, Egypt, France, the UK or others,” Al-Muslimi said. “But I don’t think this outside support will make a significant military difference unless the U.S. is directly involved.”
That leaves Trump facing a potentially consequential decision: whether to continue helping Saudi Arabia defend against incoming attacks or go further and target the Houthis directly.
Trump has kept direct U.S. military action on the table. Asked earlier this month whether the U.S. could join Saudi strikes against the Houthis, he said, “We may. We’re gonna look at it.”
“We’ll make a decision,” Trump said. “We move very quickly.”
Smoke was reported near King Khalid International Airport, seen above, as regional tensions and Houthi attacks heightened security concerns in Saudi Arabia.(AFP via Getty Images)
But direct U.S. intervention would not be without precedent — or questions about what another bombing campaign could accomplish.
Operation Rough Rider targeted Houthi positions across Yemen for roughly two months in 2025 before Trump halted the operation after Oman brokered an agreement with the group.
“We’ve already seen the U.S. conduct a 60-day bombing campaign of Houthi strongholds in Yemen with limited, if any, real strategic benefits,” Campbell said.
A new campaign would also compete for U.S. military resources amid the war with Iran. Campbell said taking on the Houthis would require clearer objectives and likely contributions from a broader coalition.
Israel has also offered to help defend Saudi Arabia, an offer Trump has publicly encouraged Riyadh to accept. But bringing Israel openly into the fight could create a different problem for the kingdom.
“If I were Saudi, I would never accept help like that,” Al-Muslimi said. “The optics are enormously difficult. Saudi Arabia is the custodian of the two holiest mosques in Islam, and appearing alongside Netanyahu to fight another Yemeni group would be a nonstarter for much of Saudi society.”
For now, the U.S. continues to provide intelligence and targeting support to Saudi Arabia as its allies focus on defending the kingdom.
“The collective effort seems to be at stemming the threat to the Saudi kingdom itself,” Campbell said.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6406905235112
But as Al-Muslimi cautioned, even a stronger defensive coalition may not eliminate the danger.
“It can make Saudi Arabia safer, but it doesn’t solve the larger problem of dismantling the Houthi threat.”
The latest fighting is another chapter in a war that has torn through Yemen for more than a decade. The Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to lead a military intervention the following year against the Iran-backed group and in support of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
Years of Saudi airstrikes failed to dislodge the Houthis, while the group steadily expanded its missile and drone capabilities with support from Tehran. The conflict eventually settled into an uneasy truce before erupting again this year, with Saudi-backed forces fighting Houthi advances on the ground and the Houthis increasingly taking the war across the border into Saudi Arabia.
Yemeni civilians are again bearing much of the cost. More than 250,000 people have fled the renewed fighting, according to the United Nations. WHO recorded at least 674 deaths and nearly 3,000 injuries in just six weeks of fighting between August and September, while millions were already facing severe hunger and displacement after more than a decade of war.
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