OMM Redaksiyası
Yemen’s civil war has intensified after the Iran-backed Houthi movement seized strategically important stretches of the Red Sea coast, including the port of Mokha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
According to the BBC, hundreds of people have reportedly been killed during the offensive, which followed the collapse of a four-year informal ceasefire. The United Nations says more than 120,000 people have been displaced.
Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s internationally recognised government and opposes the Houthis, has carried out air strikes. The Houthis have responded with drones and missiles targeting south-western Saudi Arabia, as well as commercial vessels linked to the country.
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthis are an armed political and religious movement from northern Yemen that represents the country’s Shia Muslim Zaidi minority. Their formal name is Ansar Allah, or “Partisans of God”.
The group emerged in the 1990s and was named after its late founder, Hussein al-Houthi. His brother, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has been its de facto leader since 2004.
The movement began an armed rebellion against Yemen’s long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the early 2000s, demanding greater autonomy for northern Yemen. Following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.
The group has since expanded its military strength. Its troop numbers were estimated at 350,000 last year, while it controls between one-quarter and one-third of Yemen’s territory and between 70% and 80% of its population, or about 30 million people.
The Houthis say they are part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel, the United States and the wider West, alongside groups including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The movement wants an end to the Saudi blockade, control over all of Yemen and access to the country’s oil and gas revenues.
Why are Saudi Arabia and the US involved?
Saudi Arabia has long feared that the Houthis could take control of Yemen and turn it into a satellite of Iran, Riyadh’s regional rival.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia formed an Arab coalition to intervene on behalf of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. Years of air strikes and ground fighting failed to remove the Houthis from most of the territory they controlled and contributed to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
A temporary ceasefire was brokered in 2022. However, after the Gaza war began in October 2023, the Houthis launched drones and missiles towards Israel and attacked merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying they were supporting the Palestinians.
Western countries deployed warships, while the US, UK and Israel carried out air strikes. An Israeli strike killed senior Houthi figures, including the prime minister of the group’s self-declared government.
In 2025, the US and the Houthis agreed to stop targeting each other. The movement later resumed missile attacks on Israel after the US and Israel attacked Iran in February 2026, having paused them following the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire.
What caused the latest escalation?
The informal Houthi-Saudi ceasefire began to unravel in July. The Houthis announced a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.
The group said the attacks were retaliation for what it described as a long-running Saudi blockade and an air strike on Sanaa airport.
In September, the Houthis rapidly advanced along the Red Sea, capturing up to 130 kilometres of coastline and the island of Perim. The move gave them significant control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, although they said they posed no threat to international shipping except vessels linked to Saudi Arabia.
The development has renewed fears of disruption to global oil supplies. Bab al-Mandab has become more important for Saudi oil exports after shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was curtailed amid the US and Israeli war with Iran.
Houthi attacks on Saudi oil installations, along with an attack blamed on Iran-backed Iraqi militias against the East-West Pipeline, have further increased regional tensions and raised concerns that Western powers could become directly involved.
Media reports said Yemen’s government and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged US President Donald Trump to strike the Houthis after their offensive. Trump declined, saying the Houthis had agreed not to target US interests.
The UK also agreed to a Saudi request to deploy a military aircraft to refuel Saudi fighter jets for “purely defensive missions”.
Who supplies the Houthis?
Saudi Arabia and Western governments accuse Iran of smuggling weapons to the Houthis in breach of a United Nations arms embargo. The alleged supplies include drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
A 2024 report by a UN panel of experts said transfers of equipment, assistance and training from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah and Iraqi specialists had transformed the Houthis into a powerful military organisation.
A May 2026 report by Conflict Armament Research said Iran had increasingly shifted from sending complete weapons to supplying components that Houthi allies could assemble locally. It also said Tehran was sharing more advanced missile technology.
Iran denies supplying weapons to the Houthis and says its support is political.
