Middle East Insider · Issue 054 · Monday, September 28, 2026

Riyadh Under Alert

Good evening. The mailbag went out this morning. This edition is short: Riyadh, the talks, Lebanon and the West Bank, and Israel’s ballot.

Drones at the capital, schools online, and the foreign minister at the State Department.

Saudi air defenses destroyed two Houthi drones flying toward Riyadh and two ballistic missiles fired at Khamis Mushait early Saturday, coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said. Civil defense had sent alerts overnight to Khamis Mushait and Abha (Reuters, The National). Hezam al-Asad of the Houthi political bureau called the attack “a small-scale rehearsal for a full-scale escalation” (Gulf News). The Gulf Cooperation Council called it “a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s sovereignty” (SPA).

Schools in Riyadh told parents on Saturday that classes would run online from Sunday to Thursday. No ministry explained the decision, and some schools said late Sunday that pupils could return (The National, AFP). The kingdom says dozens of civilians have been injured and at least one killed in the Houthi strikes of recent weeks (The National).

The chiefs of staff of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey met in Riyadh on Friday under the Mecca defense pact, hours before the interceptions, and Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met Field Marshal Asim Munir early Saturday (Reuters). Pakistan has named a retired lieutenant general, Nauman Mahmood, as the pact’s first secretary general (MEF). Turkey is still weighing how far to go (RFI).

In Yemen, Saudi and government aircraft struck Houthi positions east of Taiz through the weekend. The Houthis said two Saudi raids hit a market on the city’s outskirts and killed or wounded nearly 50 people; the government said it struck a Houthi camp and vehicles at the same junction (AFP, Reuters, Arab News). Government forces are still fighting on the Kahboub front, about 30 kilometers north of the Houthi positions at Bab al-Mandeb (Critical Threats).

Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan met Secretary Rubio at the State Department on Monday. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked this month for American strikes on the Houthis; Washington declined and offered intelligence and targeting support instead (Reuters, Al-Monitor). Aramco began loading tankers at Yanbu again on Sunday through the East-West pipeline, at about 3.5 million barrels a day against a capacity of 7 million, after a halt that began with the September 10 drone attack (Dow Jones). Brent settled at $105.28 on Monday after rising more than $4 in early trading (Reuters).

Saudi Arabia is defending its capital from Yemen while the Houthis hold the coast at Bab al-Mandeb. The Mecca pact has a secretariat and a secretary general; whether its members send forces is still open. The American contribution is intelligence and targeting, and the Houthis have told Washington through mediators that they will not attack American ships (The National). So Riyadh fights with its own aircraft and Yemen’s, and asks Washington again for more. The administration has kept its options open. A public statement of what Washington will do if the capital is hit again would cost nothing and would change the Houthis’ calculation.

MEF Observer, Pakistan Puts a Counter-Terrorism General at the Helm of the Mecca Defense Alliance (Sept 27): Kaswar Klasra on Nauman Mahmood, the retired lieutenant general who will run the pact’s secretariat in Riyadh, and what his career says about the threat the alliance expects.

MEF Observer, Kurds Are Key to Tightening the Economic Noose on Iran (Sept 27): Michael Rubin on Iran’s more than 50 land crossings, which the naval blockade does not touch, and the Kurdish role in closing them.

MEF Online, China Is Turning the Red Sea Into a New Security Front (Sept 27): Amine Ayoub on the antenna arrays and satellite links added to China’s base at Doraleh, Djibouti, less than ten miles from the American one.

Press release, Mosques Campaigned for El-Sayed From the Pulpit, MEF Report Finds (Sept 25): The Forum’s report on tax-exempt Islamist groups intervening in this year’s elections, with a request that the IRS and the FEC examine the organizations it names.

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The talks resume, the rial falls, Lebanon escalates, and the court sits Thursday.

The talks. The President rejected Iran’s seven-day plan on Saturday: “They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly” (NBC, JNS). Foreign Minister Araghchi told NBC on Sunday that Iran is “fully prepared for the war to be resumed” and that “there is no reason why we should go back to diplomacy,” but that he is trying it anyway (NBC). Qatari mediators meet the Iranians in New York and the American side on Monday or Tuesday on an amended version of the plan (Reuters); the President is willing to ease sanctions and release frozen funds for concrete nuclear steps, and a US official said the sides “still remain apart on the timing of the commitments and who takes which steps first” (Axios). Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement on Monday that “it will not be long before the Arabian Sea, too, would rid itself of their presence” (AFP).

Hormuz and the rial. Treasury Secretary Bessent said Sunday that about 15 million barrels of Iranian oil remain at sea and that Tehran “will have nothing to trade for anything, probably within the next two weeks” (Fox). Energy Secretary Wright put the flow through the strait at almost 13 million barrels a day (Iran International). The rial fell to 2.44 million to the dollar on Monday, a record (Iran International).

Lebanon and the West Bank. Hezbollah flew an explosive drone at Israeli troops on Saturday night; the IDF answered with strikes across the Nabatieh, Marjayoun, and Tyre districts through Monday morning and said it had demolished more than 600 Hezbollah sites in Mansouri (L’Orient Today, Asharq Al-Awsat, VINnews). Naim Qassem, on the second anniversary of Nasrallah’s death: “first, liberate the south, and let the people return” (AFP). In the West Bank the IDF raised its force to about 25 battalions for Sukkot after Israelis burned vehicles and sprayed graffiti in villages near Ramallah, including “Revenge for Leiter” in Rantis (JPost, JPost). Neria Leiter’s life “is still hanging in the balance, but we have seen some encouraging signs,” his father said Sunday (JPost).

The ballot. The Supreme Court hears the disqualifications of the Joint List, Ofer Cassif, and Sami Abu Shehadeh on Thursday; Ra’am’s case is not yet scheduled (JPost). Kan’s poll on Sunday put the two blocs at 52 seats each, Yashar at 23 and Likud at 21, and 55 percent of respondents in favor of barring the Joint List (Israel National News).

Fairford. British police arrested five men early Sunday after three vans were seen heading toward RAF Fairford, the base American bombers have used against Iran; the five were bailed on Monday while detectives examine a possible Iranian link (Reuters, AP). The President said they “were looking to do big damage” (AP).

Corrections Desk. Clear this evening. When this brief gets something wrong, write [email protected]; corrections run in print.

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