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Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab world must take the fight to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, former Pentagon official Robert Wilkie told Newsmax on Saturday, days after attacks on Riyadh’s main airport killed three Saudis.
Wilkie, who served as undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness before becoming Veterans Affairs secretary under President Donald Trump, made the case during an appearance on “Saturday Report.”
“Look, this is a wake-up call, and I think that the call has to go out to the rest of the Arab world, that it is time for them to engage,” he said.
“Iran is the deadly enemy of all Arab states,” Wilkie said.
The Saudi-led military coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government accuses Iran of arming, training, and funding the Houthis, Reuters reported, though the group denies being part of Tehran’s proxy network and Iran rejects the claims.
The Houthis, who declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in July, have since escalated attacks on Saudi cities and shipping.
Among the dead in Thursday’s strikes on King Khalid International Airport was a pilot for national carrier Saudia, Al Jazeera reported, and a Houthi spokesman claimed a ballistic missile hit the airport.
Wilkie said the Houthis have closed off access to the Suez Canal in many instances, squeezing Egypt’s canal earnings, and said Egypt “has the largest army in the Middle East.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said in December 2024 that the Red Sea disruption had cost his country about $7 billion in canal revenue that year.
Citing Saudi spending on air power, Wilkie said it is time to “fully engage with the Houthis, Iran’s really last viable proxy, and really strike a blow and cut off the Iranians from their avenues of mischief.”
Saudi Arabia spent an estimated $83.2 billion on its military in 2025, the eighth-largest total worldwide, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks global defense budgets.
As of Saturday, Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to deploy troops under a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia, and the coalition said Friday it had destroyed three Houthi rocket launch platforms.
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