Why Trump is leaving Saudi Arabia alone to fight the Houthis even as they threaten global oil supplies

Saudi Arabia has been left alone to deal with the Houthi threat, with President Trump and the kingdom’s allies suggesting it’s an internal problem and not an extension of the Iran War — even as the group’s renewed attacks threaten the global oil supply.Despite years of building security alliances with the US, its Gulf neighbors and regional powers like Turkey and Pakistan, no one is rushing to aid Riyadh as it fends off attacks on its cities and critical pipelines and refineries.There are two reasons, analysts say.First, nobody is eager to get dragged into a new fight with the Iran-backed Yemeni terror group.

Second, the bad blood between the Saudis and the Houthis along their southern border has been raging for years — long before the Iran war.“For the Gulf allies, they are likely concerned about being on the receiving end of Iranian and Houthi retaliation,” Mona Yacoubian, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Middle East Program, told The Post.“They are reluctant to help at the risk of exposing their civilian and energy infrastructure to the attacks we’ve seen so far,” she added.Turkey and Pakistan — which signed the Mecca Agreement in August vowing to defend Riyadh in case of an attack — have also declined to step up even after a Houthi drone was intercepted near the holy city.Both Muslim-majority nations have large and formidable militaries and have vowed to defend the nation that is home to Islam’s holiest site.But, nuclear-armed Pakistan has argued that the current fighting in Yemen and Saudi Arabia are part of the “pre-existing” Yemeni civil war that predated the Mecca Agreement and therefore does not require allies to respond.Yemen had endured a bloody conflict between the Houthis and the country’s Saudi-backed government for years before settling into a cease-fire in 2012.Saudi Arabia, a nation of 36 million, has modern military equipment — including American F-35 Strike Eagle fighter jets and ...