Saudi grand mufti urges troops to be ready to die fighting Iran‑backed Houthis until they lose power
Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority has called on soldiers to be ready to lay down their lives fighting Iran‑backed Houthi forces until the group is ousted from power, according to a statement on state media.
Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti has urged the kingdom’s troops to be prepared to sacrifice their lives in the fight against Yemen’s Houthi movement until the group is removed from power.
In a statement carried by Saudi state news agency, the country’s top religious authority called on soldiers to be ready to lay down their lives against the Houthis, who are backed by Iran, and linked that readiness explicitly to fighting until the group is ousted.
The wording elevates the conflict from a conventional military campaign to one framed as a religiously endorsed struggle. For troops on the front lines and their families, it underscores that death in this war is being described as a duty in pursuit of a political outcome: the Houthis’ loss of power.
In Yemen, where civilians are already living with the consequences of years of war, language that ties military operations to a demand for the Houthis’ complete removal from power makes compromise harder to sell and can narrow the space for negotiations.
The statement also signals to Iran that Saudi Arabia sees the fight against the Houthis as a long‑term security priority on its southern border. Iran, which backs the group, uses that relationship as one way to apply pressure on Saudi Arabia.
Whether this religious call translates into changes on the ground will become clearer in how Saudi political leaders echo the message, how Houthi officials and media respond, and whether any new efforts at talks or de‑escalation move ahead despite the emphasis on fighting “until” the group is ousted.
Sources
- OSINT