Saudi Arabia Tightens Security Around the Crown Prince as Interceptor Stocks Run Low
Security around Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been tightened amid the escalation with the Houthis. He moves between fortified palaces equipped with bunkers, accompanied by specially vetted bodyguards.
Several reports mention these facts, along with another: Saudi Arabia’s interceptor stocks are running low, making it increasingly difficult to protect energy facilities.
Security around the crown prince
The reports describe a tighter protective ring around Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler. He moves between fortified palaces equipped with bunkers, and his bodyguards have been specially vetted. Air defence batteries are reported to have been shifted to cover royal palaces and key energy infrastructure.
Interceptor stocks running low
Repeated Houthi missile and drone attacks have drawn down the kingdom’s stock of interceptors, according to the reports. They say Riyadh has asked Pakistan and other friendly countries for military help and is seeking more air defence systems from abroad. Protecting a wide network of oil and gas sites with a limited supply of interceptors forces hard choices about what to cover first.
Energy facilities in the line of fire
The Houthis claimed a missile and drone strike on an Aramco facility in Riyadh on October 3, while the Saudi led coalition called the claim misleading. Late in September the group claimed attacks on Aramco facilities in Yanbu, and Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted six ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and Yanbu. The East West pipeline, the kingdom’s main alternative export route, has also reportedly been targeted.
A week of strikes on airports
The pressure has reached civilian infrastructure. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was hit several times in a week, and Saudi aviation authorities said 12 people were killed and 309 injured on October 10, as reported earlier. Later reports put the death toll at 13 after an injured person died. Footage of the moment of the strike was published the following day.
How the escalation reached this point
A fragile truce in Yemen collapsed in July, and fighting has intensified since. In mid September the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and strategic islands in the Bab el Mandeb strait. Saudi Arabia is running an air campaign in support of Yemeni government forces, and the Houthis have declared Saudi airspace a military zone, except over Mecca and Medina. President Donald Trump has said Washington is weighing whether to join the Saudi offensive, and that decision is still open.
