Saudi-backed Yemen offensive targets Houthis at vital Bab el-Mandeb strait

Saudi-backed forces and Yemen's government have launched an offensive to dislodge Houthis from the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The escalation threatens a crucial global trade corridor while deepening displacement and regional proxy tensions.

In Short

• Houthi missiles and drones hit Saudi sites, including airports and refinery
• Brent crude stayed near USD 100 as regional tensions rattled energy markets
• More than 184,000 people have been displaced since fighting surged in August

Saudi Arabia and Yemen's government have launched a military campaign to push Iran-backed Houthi rebels out of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a vital route for oil and global trade, as the worst fighting in Yemen in years deepens instability in the region.

The Houthis have responded by stepping up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, claiming to have targeted Riyadh's international airport, an Aramco refinery and Saudi military bases. The escalation comes amid continuing tension between the US and Iran, with oil prices remaining high and Brent crude hovering around USD 100 per barrel on Tuesday, up from about USD 70 before the Iran war.

Yemen's conflict has had a devastating impact on the Arab world's poorest country. The Houthis swept down from their northern stronghold and seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, before a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government. Years of fighting turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, killing more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and creating one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. A 2022 ceasefire was largely honoured until this summer.

The latest fighting is centred on the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, which links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. About 12 per cent of global trade, including a quarter of the world's container traffic, passes through the narrow waterway on the route between Europe and Asia via Egypt's Suez Canal. It also became a key alternative route for Saudi oil exports after Iran initially shut down the Strait of Hormuz following the wider war launched by the US and Israel on February 28.

Last month, the Houthis moved rapidly down the Red Sea coast, capturing the port city of Mokha and islands in the Bab el-Mandeb, tightening what they called a blockade of Saudi shipping. The Saudi-backed offensive to retake the Red Sea coast began after the Houthis captured Turbah, a town near the western city of Taiz that had served as an important staging ground for government forces. Taiz, one of the main battlegrounds in the 12-year civil war, has seen some of the heaviest fighting and would be a major gain for the Houthis.

The fighting has displaced more than 184,000 people since the start of August, according to the International Organisation for Migration. It said nearly 22,000 people were displaced between September 27 and October 3, a 26 per cent rise from the previous week. Nearly 6,500 people were displaced on October 4 alone.

Yemeni officials said the Saudi-led coalition has recaptured several key areas around the Bab el-Mandeb that the Houthis had taken in recent weeks, including the town of Dhubab. The coalition also took the towns of Bab and Hadeid, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief reporters. Two witnesses, also speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal, said they saw government tanks and forces entering the towns.

Saudi officials have given little detail about the Houthi counterattacks. The kingdom said on Tuesday that two of its airports had been attacked, leaving three people with minor injuries and causing damage to the facilities. Two regional officials said Saudi Arabia believes the rebels will not return to negotiations without military pressure. The officials were not authorised to speak publicly about internal Saudi discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ahmed Nagi, senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the Saudi-backed offensive is meant to weaken the Houthis and "send a clear message that it has the capabilities to change the map of control inside Yemen". "The Saudis are fed up," he said. "Not simply because the Houthis have refused to return to negotiations, but because they have continued to expand, become more maximalist in their demands and keep attacking Saudi Arabia."

The US has supported Saudi Arabia in the campaign through intelligence sharing, target identification and planning, according to a regional official and a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters. But US President Donald Trump has shown reluctance to widen American military involvement in the Middle East and, for now, is not ordering the US military to resume its own strikes on the rebels. Trump has, however, warned that he could restart full-scale military operations after the US congressional elections in November, while Iran may be planning proxy attacks.

Pakistan and Turkiye have said they are sending military forces to Saudi Arabia under a new defence pact, though they have not given troop numbers or other details. Analysts said Pakistan's experience in fighting its own militants, along with Pakistani and Turkish technological capabilities, could help strengthen Saudi defences against threats such as drones.

The latest offensive around the Bab el-Mandeb and the retaliatory attacks on Saudi Arabia mark a sharp new turn in Yemen's long war, with the fight over a strategic trade route, rising displacement and outside support all underlining the widening impact of the conflict.

With PTI Inputs

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