India, Nov. 8 -- On Monday, the Houthi militia that controls parts of Yemen claimed it had launched a drone strike on Saudi Arabia's Dammam airport, the latest such attack in a series targeting Saudi infrastructure in recent weeks. Let us examine the backdrop to this. In June, the Iranians had sent a plane to fly Houthi leaders to the funeral of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose assassination in a bomb attack by the US and Israel kicked off the Iran war in February. A Saudi-led alliance bombed the airstrip when the plane arrived, alleging that it carried weapons and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which coordinates Iran's so-called Axis of Resistance regional military network, including the Houthis. That bombing prompted the Houthis to break a 2020 truce struck with Riyadh. In July this year, the Houthis declared a naval blockade against the Saudis, the world's largest oil exporter. It was seen as part of the Iran-led effort to consolidate control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical maritime passage for Gulf oil supplies. Bab el-Mandeb is on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran choked oil trade after the US-Israel war started and upended the global markets. The Yemeni Perim island dividesBab el-Mandeb, which is just 29 km at its narrowest point, where traffic is limited to just two channels. If the Houthis fully dominate Yemen and Bab el-Mandeb, it will strengthen Iran'sposition. And it will leave the Houthiswith the ability to control or disrupt 14%of global trade and potentially worsen the West Asia crisis. Saudi-Yemeni tensions have a long history. The Yemenis resent Saudi interference in their country, which Riyadh sees as a way of keeping Yemen stable for the purposes of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The conflict also has an ideological dimension. The Houthis are antagonistic to the traditionally conservative Salafism of Saudi Arabia, being Zaydi Shias themselves. The Saudis backed a Salafist expansion in Yemen to counter the Zaydis; the latter supported Iran's 1979 revolution. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the revolution, saw himself as the leader of all Muslims, resisting a portrayal of the Iranian Revolution as a Shia uprising. Khomeini called for the abolition of the West-backed rule of the House of Saud. The Saudi and Iranian competition to expand their creeds fuelled the Yemeni civil war. That said, the Houthis have their own agenda and ideology. Their priorities often overlap with Iran, but not always. They joined the war from the Iranian sideonly when their own priorities werethreatened. So, the Houthis' relationship with Iran is unlike that of either the LebaneseHezbollah or the militias in Iraq, two other constituents of the Axis of Resistance. This time, the precision of the Houthi hits on Saudi airports points to an Iranian-State-supported supply of coordinates. The Houthi attacks are a major setback to Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS)'s Vision 2030, which seeks to diversify the country's economy away from oil and gas to tourism, logistics, and manufacturing. It was initially put at risk by the Iran war: The Saudis had argued with their ally, the US, against attacking Iran, given the risk to their economy from an Iranian response, but their caution went unheeded. Now, with the Houthi attacks, the EU and GCC had to postpone a summit in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have also struck Saudi oil giant Aramco's headquarters. In September, the Houthis claimedthat they had captured Perim and other islands to tighten their grip on the Red Sea coastline. They stepped up their attacks recently on Saudi infrastructure after Riyadh-backed forces recaptured key areas around the Bab el-Mandeb. However, the Saudis - one of the largest global military spenders - seem to lackthe capability to fight a land war inside Yemen against the Houthis. They also donot have sufficient interceptors againstthe Houthi drones. And Saudi energyinfrastructure, desalination plants, airports, and pipelines are difficult to defend -spread as they are across a territory larger than Western Europe. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia continues to arm Yemen's faction-ridden, internationally recognised government that is fightingthe Houthis. But the divided and poorlycoordinated anti-Houthi forces in Yemen have suffered serious reverses, which hurts MBS's modernisation vision. For the moment, MBS has consolidated and centralised power. Despite the heartburn over this among some in the Saudi royal family, he faces no organised or serious opposition. If the Houthis gain an upper hand in the current conflict, how this will challenge MBS will be interesting to watch....