Houthi advances deepen Yemen’s strategic and humanitarian crisis
Reported Houthi seizures near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have intensified fighting with Saudi Arabia and raised fears of a renewed wider war.
Fighting between Iran-backed Houthi forces and Yemen’s internationally recognised government has escalated, with reported territorial gains and missile, drone and air attacks involving Saudi Arabia.
Yemeni government sources told Reuters, as reported by Deutsche Welle, that Houthi forces seized the port city of Mokha on Thursday before taking Dhubab and the island of Perim on Friday. The locations lie near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis reportedly launched dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at four Saudi cities. The movement said Saudi Arabia responded with dozens of airstrikes across four Yemeni provinces. The timing and extent of the reported strikes have not been independently established in the source material.
The escalation has further strained a country that remains divided despite the relative calm following a 2022 UN-brokered truce. The Houthis control Sanaa and much of the north, while the internationally recognised government, represented by the Presidential Leadership Council, is based in Aden.
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, warned of the “harsh reality” of a return to war. The World Health Organization said nearly 200 people had been killed in the current conflict, while the International Organization for Migration reported that about 18,500 people had been displaced.
Yemen’s conflict has already produced a severe humanitarian crisis. The UN Development Programme estimated that 377,000 people died as a result of the conflict between 2014 and late 2021, including deaths directly caused by combat and violence.
