Trump's revenge on Saudi Arabia: You didn't want to make peace with Israel - this is the price

Syrian-Kurdish researcher Ali Tami claims that the US is working to curb Saudi Arabia's strengthening through indirect Houthi pressure, aiming to push Riyadh toward an agreement with Israel on terms it does not want. According to him, Saudi Arabia has rejected American proposals to join the Abraham Accords and sign a peace agreement with Israel, and instead deepens its ties with Syria and Turkey.

Syrian-Kurdish researcher Ali Tami argues in an article published in Ma'ariv that the United States, under the Trump administration, is working to curb Saudi Arabia's regional strengthening through an indirect lever – Houthi pressure. According to him, Washington seeks to push Riyadh toward an agreement with Israel on terms it does not want, after Saudi Arabia rejected several US-promoted moves in recent years: joining the Abraham Accords, signing a peace agreement with Israel, and proposals to connect Saudi Arabia to energy and trade routes through Jordan and Haifa. Instead, Tami claims, Saudi Arabia prefers to deepen its ties with Syria and Turkey and build an independent sphere of action. Tami compares the situation to Muhammad Ali Pasha in the 19th century, whom Britain initially supported but changed its stance when his power grew. He argues that the US sees Saudi Arabia as too large an economic and military power to leave unconstrained. The sharpest part of the analysis is the claim that despite the confrontation between Washington and Tehran, there are arenas where both share a common interest in weakening Arab states. Tami calls on Saudi Arabia to build an independent regional sphere of influence, including support for Sunnis in Lebanon and Iraq, strengthening the Syrian government, and expanding involvement in Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen.