Riyadh and Israel increasingly confront overlapping threats from Iran and the Houthis, but political constraints continue to limit direct military cooperation
A secret gathering of senior US, Israeli and Arab military commanders in Germany has offered a rare glimpse of the security coordination taking shape across the Middle East as Saudi Arabia confronts a renewed Houthi offensive and Washington remains heavily focused on its war with Iran.
The meeting, held last week and organized by US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper, brought together military chiefs from Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt, according to Axios, which first reported the gathering. CENTCOM confirmed that it hosted senior military leaders from eight Middle Eastern countries in Germany to discuss opportunities for strengthening regional security cooperation. The conference was not publicly announced in advance.
Its significance lies less in the existence of military contacts—which have developed incrementally for years—than in the circumstances surrounding the gathering.
The commanders met as the conflict with Iran continues to strain American forces and Gulf security, while the Houthis have expanded their position along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Reuters reported that Houthi forces seized Mocha and Perim Island during their latest offensive, increasing their leverage near Bab el Mandeb, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.
The developments have created a difficult security environment for Saudi Arabia. Riyadh must contend with renewed missile and drone threats from Yemen while disruptions around both the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz complicate its energy and maritime calculations.
Yet the Germany meeting should not automatically be interpreted as the birth of a formal Arab-Israeli military alliance.
Abdulaziz Alshaabani, a Saudi political analyst, cautioned against reading the gathering as evidence that Riyadh is preparing for direct military cooperation with Israel.
The Germany meeting is significant, but I do not see it as evidence that Saudi Arabia is moving toward direct military cooperation with Israel
“The Germany meeting is significant, but I do not see it as evidence that Saudi Arabia is moving toward direct military cooperation with Israel,” Alshaabani told The Media Line. “Any intelligence coordination would likely remain limited and pragmatic, while Riyadh continues to rely primarily on its own security mechanisms and broader regional frameworks,” he added.
Saudi Arabia and Israel share concerns about Iran and, increasingly, the Houthis, but they do not have diplomatic relations. Operational necessity can produce intelligence exchanges, deconfliction or parallel military planning without resolving the political constraints that have prevented formal normalization.
The regional security architecture also predates the current crisis. In July, CENTCOM said the United States and regional partners were operating what it described as a large active air- and missile-defense umbrella across the Middle East. The command said a Middle Eastern air-defense coordination cell established in January was intended to improve information sharing, threat warnings and responses to regional contingencies.
That does not mean every country represented in Germany operates within a single integrated command structure. It does show that efforts to coordinate regional defenses were underway before the latest Houthi escalation.
Giuseppe Dentice, an analyst at the Observatory on the Mediterranean (OSMED), sees the current moment through the erosion of confidence in Washington and the resulting search by Gulf states for additional security options.
“What is actually happening is what no one wanted: at this moment, there is total chaos,” Dentice told The Media Line. “The problem is that it is political chaos in which there is no real leadership. The United States is pulling itself out of everything, and the most paradoxical thing is that it is also part of this problem,” he added.
For Dentice, governments are responding pragmatically rather than ideologically.
“Everyone is acting for themselves, and within this ‘everyone for themselves’ approach, the Gulf states are the most prepared to seek some form of action,” he said. “Not so much to resolve the issue, because at this moment neither what is happening in the Red Sea nor what is happening in Hormuz can really be resolved, but rather to try to find some kind of compromise through diplomacy,” he added.
Washington has so far resisted Saudi requests for direct American military action against the Houthis.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought US military assistance as Houthi pressure increased, according to Reuters, but Washington limited its involvement to intelligence and targeting support rather than direct strikes. Cooper met the crown prince in Jeddah this week as the crisis intensified.
The United States has also maintained a separate channel with the Houthis. Reuters reported that American officials met Houthi representatives at the US Embassy in Muscat, Oman, over the weekend. Sources familiar with the talks said the Houthi delegation pledged not to target US or Israeli vessels and said it would continue observing its previous arrangement with Washington, while excluding Saudi shipping from those commitments. The State Department declined to confirm the meeting.
For Alexander Portnoy, an independent military and geopolitical analyst, this environment makes behind-the-scenes cooperation more consequential than public declarations of alliance.
Military contacts and mutually beneficial cooperation between these countries ceased to be sensational news a long time ago
“Military contacts and mutually beneficial cooperation between these countries ceased to be sensational news a long time ago,” Portnoy told The Media Line. He argued that disclosure of such contacts can itself serve as strategic messaging.
Portnoy expects any Israeli contribution to a regional response to Yemen to remain discreet.
“Yes, but any Israeli involvement would take place behind the scenes,” he said when asked whether Saudi Arabia and other regional states could coordinate against the Houthis without direct American combat participation.
Israel and Saudi Arabia increasingly face the same types of weapons: ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and long-range drones. Shared threats, though, do not necessarily produce a shared political strategy.
Alshaabani rejected more dramatic assessments suggesting that the latest Houthi advances make a ground offensive into Saudi Arabia the likely next stage.
“I think the word ‘invasion’ is too strong in this context,” he said. “Saudi Arabia is a vast country, while the Houthis remain a militia with limited capabilities. I do not see a ground invasion as the most likely scenario at this stage,” he added.
Instead, he said, the immediate danger is that the Houthis could exploit their new positions inside Yemen.
The more immediate concern is the Houthis expanding their control in western Yemen and using that position to intensify missile, drone and maritime attacks against Saudi Arabia
“The more immediate concern is the Houthis expanding their control in western Yemen and using that position to intensify missile, drone and maritime attacks against Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The latest Houthi gains have increased the group’s ability to threaten Saudi territory and maritime traffic, but its territorial advances have so far been concentrated inside Yemen and along the Red Sea coast.
Saudi concerns have nevertheless intensified. Riyadh said this week that it intercepted a Houthi drone south of Mecca. The Houthis denied targeting the holy city while acknowledging other operations against Saudi targets.
The kingdom is also seeking additional support. Riyadh has approached partners including Egypt, Pakistan, the UK and France as the conflict strains its missile-defense resources. No broad regional military intervention has materialized.
For Dentice, the central question is less whether a new alliance suddenly emerges than how long individual governments can absorb several interconnected crises.
“There is a strong interest among virtually all the actors in preventing Bab el-Mandeb from becoming another Hormuz,” he said. “But we are already very close to that situation. Everyone risks making the same mistakes, because even sending a strong military signal can become counterproductive. Not because the Houthis are militarily superior, but because they retain the ability to strike strategic assets,” he added.
That vulnerability is particularly visible in the energy sector. The Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted, while attacks have placed additional pressure on alternative Saudi export infrastructure. On Wednesday, preliminary ship-tracking data showed only three commercial vessels transiting Hormuz, down from 12 the previous day and a 10-day average of 17, according to Reuters. Traffic through Bab el Mandeb also remained depressed. Vessels operating with their tracking systems switched off would not necessarily appear in those figures.
The existence of several active military theaters does not necessarily mean they will merge into a single regional war.
“I do not think the risk of integrating these separate theaters of war into a wider regional conflict is high,” Portnoy said.
He also viewed the Germany meeting as evidence that regional coordination is still being worked out rather than proof that a collective defense mechanism is already operational.
“If these countries were already prepared for a collective response, I do not think the meeting in Germany would have been necessary,” he said.
The Media Line sought additional comment from the US Defense Department and contacted current US military experts and former senior US military officers for their assessments but received no responses by publication time.
The Germany gathering reveals both how far regional security contacts have advanced and where their limits remain. Israel and several Arab governments face overlapping missile, drone and maritime threats and have reasons to exchange information and coordinate defenses. They also maintain sharply different relationships with Iran, Israel and the United States.
Dentice similarly described Saudi strategy as one of selective engagement rather than permanent alignment, pointing to the recently signed Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Turkey and Pakistan. The pact contains a collective-defense commitment, though its full text has not been made public and questions remain about how its provisions would operate in practice.
The Saudis are willing to talk to anyone, but not to bind themselves completely to anyone
“The Saudis are willing to talk to anyone, but not to bind themselves completely to anyone,” he said. “The same applies to the Mecca agreement. It is not a binding agreement; it is based on the availability of the actors involved,” he added.
