The outbreak of war between the Houthis and the Yemen government and Saudi Arabia was expected for years, since the days of Joe Biden. The Houthis were emboldened as they witnessed the woeful failure of Biden’s Red Sea naval coalition efforts, which did little or nothing to stymie the resilient and determined group. Now there has been another escalation: “Fighting in Yemen intensifies, and Houthis launch more attacks on Saudi Arabia,” by Abdulnasser Alseddik and Samy Magdy, Associated Press, September 13, 2026:
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government.
The Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast after conceding a “painful” defeat last week when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
The escalation – especially Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and its shipping in the Red Sea – adds pressure on global oil supplies and prices, and that could give Iran leverage in its war with the United States….
Saudi authorities sounded sirens Sunday afternoon in the southern city of Abha and Khamis Mushait province, warning residents to take shelter from potential incoming fire. Both areas were repeatedly attacked by the Houthi in recent weeks.
The Houthis claimed to have used drones and missiles to target Saudi Arabia, including a military base just over the border with Yemen. Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree didn’t provide evidence or say when the attack occurred.
In 2024, the Yemeni government warned of the Houthi threat to the “world’s digital infrastructure.” This threat has not been taken seriously, and remains a possibility with continued escalation.
Some history of the Houthis sheds light on their zeal and determination.
Houthis adhere to the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam, taking their name from Zaid bin Ali, the great-grandson of Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. In 740, Zaid rose up against the Umayyad caliphate. He died in the revolt, and was thereafter revered as a martyr. His “head is believed to be buried in a shrine to him in Kerak, Jordan.” Zaidis believe that Zaid bin Ali was “a model of a pure caliph who should have ruled instead of the Umayyads.” The Houthis established themselves in north Yemen’s rugged mountains in the ninth century, and have never wavered from their mission of conquest, though they have seldom had the chance to pursue it that they now have as they perform actions that reverberate worldwide.
In the 1990s, the Houthi movement was launched to protect the Zaidi Muslim religious identity from the growing influence of Saudi-backed Sunni Salafism, and to protest the central government’s economic neglect of northern Yemen. The Houthis have achieved remarkable successes as they continued to attack in the Red Sea during the Biden era. One may wonder how a jihad group from the mountains of poverty-stricken and war-torn Yemen could threaten the world, but they have managed to do so. Fanatical Islamic zeal combined with a sense of having nothing to lose is clearly effective. Westerners underestimate the depth and power of Islamic religious zeal.
Yemen’s government warned that the Red Sea is “one of the three most important meeting points for cables” on the globe, and the Houthis pose a “serious threat to one of the most important digital infrastructures in the world.”
This isn’t an idle warning. The nuclear-threshold Iranian regime backs the Houthis, and that regime still aims for regional hegemony, as well as power over the entire Islamic world. Iran identifies its greatest enemies, of course, as Israel and America. America and Israel are now engaged in a proxy war with Iran, as the regime buys time, prepares, and strategizes.
If Houthis are not controlled, they will continue to escalate their attacks. Imagine the possibility of a fifth of the world’s internet going down. The world economy would collapse, and full-scale war would be inevitable.
Houthi jihad warriors who are humbly living in the mountains of Yemen do not have much to lose, and, they believe, a great deal to gain in the name of Islam.
So far, the Houthis have captured the strategic Red Sea port of Mokha and territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (a narrow corridor linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and global markets), while the Yemeni government has been forced into a tactical retreat on the country’s western Red Sea coast in order to regroup. However, fighting continues, as the government confronts severe attacks around its last major Northern stronghold, Marib.
The Yemeni government is not giving up. According to Brigadier Yahya Al-Hatemi, director of the Yemeni army, “government forces had gained significant battlefield experience during more than a decade of fighting and were ready to repel any attempt by the Houthis to advance on Marib.”
He added that “the armed forces have generally become more organized, powerful and effective.”
The Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, included an attack on Saudi oil infrastructure and its shipping in the Red Sea. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has now “appealed to countries across the Middle East, and indirectly to Israel, for assistance” in the battle against the Houthis, and has asked them to stop the group from blocking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. He reported made these appeals directly to other Gulf states and to Egypt, but the Saudis asked for the aid of Israel’s intelligence indirectly through US Central Command (CENTCOM), with a request for intelligence and other assistance that could help stop the Houthis.
Trump has also stated that he spoke to the Saudi Crown Prince, and that bin Salman personally “requested US strikes on the Houthis,” but Trump declined, claiming: “The Houthis called us and they don’t want to fight with us…They don’t want us to go after them. He added that ‘everything’s gonna work out fine and dandy,’ in the region.”
Tens of thousands of Yemen citizens have also been forced from their homes, intensifying one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, which comes to one of the world’s poorest nations, both in the Middle East and in the world at large.
The Houthis are extremely loyal to Iran as a dedicated proxy. According to Time Magazine, the battle between the Houthis and Yemen/Saudi Arabia threatens to spill over and affect the U.S. war on Iran:
If the Houthis were to assume control of the Bab el-Mandeb, it could give Iran an advantage in its war with the U.S. The active hostilities between Washington and Tehran are largely focused on another critical trade route, the Strait of Hormuz.
This new front war is adding “pressure on global oil supplies and prices, and that could give Iran leverage in its war with the United States,” which simultaneously serving the Houthi mission of eroding U.S. and Western influence in the region.
Despite Trump’s assurance that “everything’s gonna work out fine and dandy” in the region, it isn’t turning out that way, given the humanitarian disaster and the escalation’s strong upward pressure on global oil prices. By seizing the port city Mocha (which is located directly along the Red Sea) and advancing toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Houthis have gravely threatened the Red Sea route, which Saudi Arabia relies on to bypass the already-disrupted Strait of Hormuz. The war has now escalated into a crisis for Saudi Arabia and the global energy market, since this dual-chokehold has already sent oil prices over $100 a barrel, pushing U.S. diesel prices to historic highs, which translates to higher food and gas prices.
Finally, the threat of the Houthis to the world’s digital infrastructure remains alive. The Houthis are already being blamed for disrupting the massive web of undersea fiber-optic cables running along the Red Sea floor. This narrow corridor carries approximately 17% to 25% of all global internet and financial data traffic, connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. US officials are saying undersea telecommunications cables in the Red Sea were actually cut last Tuesday, “disrupting 25 percent of data traffic between Asia and Europe.”
Reader says
Please don’t call them Houthis. They call themselves Ansar Allah. Which translates to helpers of Allah. Calling them Houthis, like the media slyly does, obscures the fact that they are Muslims. Can’t have the public realizing that Islam is a dangerous problem.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Watching/reading about the woes of the Saudis has been somewhat cathartic. While Riyadh has done well over the last decade in ending its underwriting of global dawa/jihad activities, banning hizb-ul-tahrir, removing anti-Christian/Jewish materials from their education, opening up Medina to non-muslims and focusing more on the economic development of their own people, there are still problems w/ some of the things they have been doing lately:
1. Opposing US use of bases against the islamic republic
2. Putting intense pressure on the US to end the war, which is a part of the reason the US did the MOU & entered those negotiations farce
3. Doing everything possible to avoid upsetting the islamic regime
4. Resisting US attempts to convince it to join the Abraham Accords
5. Signing up on an alliance w/ Pakistan & Turkey, both duplicitous countries when it comes to geopolitical alliances, in the “Mecca Alliance”
Also note that in the context of last Friday being the 25th anniversary of 9/11, it’s worth remembering that they are one country that have never been held accountable for the fact that 15 of those hijackers were their own citizens, and that that entire plot was largely a Saudi operation, w/ participation from people of other Arab countries as well as Pakistan
So suddenly, this week, Houthis suddenly declared that Bab el Mandab was open to all international shipping, except Saudi! 😈 Riyadh first asked its “Mecca Alliance” partners – Turkey & Pakistan – for assistance. Turkey just ignored the request, while Pakistan issued proforma warnings to the Houthis, but told the Saudis that it only applies to new wars, not pre-existing ones (who knew that the Pakis based their foreign policy on the pre-Obama policy of Health Insurance companies 😂), as well as asking Araghchi, who does not control the IRGC, to keep the Houthis on a tight leash. For 2 countries supposedly devoted to islam, they sure made a mockery of its sacred city whose name applies to that “alliance” 😈. End result was that Riyadh got squat from 2 of its mohammedan brother countries, making it the most short lived alliance ever. Also, none of its immediate neighbors are in any position to help them, except maybe Egypt, but none of its Arab or muslim allies stepped up
Then when the Houthis, who on their flag, have “Death to America, Death to Israel” announced that all ships would be allowed through the Bab el Mandab, including Israel and US but excluding Saudi Arabia, it was amusing to see the events that followed. After all these months of Riyadh rebuffing the US and acting against our interests, when MbS appealed to Trump for help, he declined, stating what the Houthis didn’t want. Finally, in sharp contrast to the Bush years when King Abdullah said that he’d flick his fingers and his White slaves would appear, this time, the “White slaves” can’t be bothered! 😈😂
That forces the Saudis to turn to Israel. But Israel almost has its hands full, and besides, it has no reason to go out of its way to protect a country that refuses to openly recognize it, sign a treaty like the Emirates or Bahrein did, or signs alliances w/ their biggest threats, namely Turkey. In the meantime, the reason MbS, who otherwise got along fine w/ Israel, is not getting the support he’d like, is that while his country’s population has been somewhat deradicalized, it’s still a major leap of faith for them to embrace Israel the way the Emirates did. There could be a major upheaval by both the Wahabis and the muslim brotherhood should MbS do what Trump wants and sign the Abraham Accords
The way events have developed, MbS would have to tell his people that they have been let down by everyone else in the Ummah, and therefore, are changing the policy: not only would they be joining the Abraham Accords, but that the well being of the ummah is the last priority on their list. And then crack down on any opposition to that
As for the undersea cables, there is plenty of redundancy: if data can’t flow via the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, then it can flow the other way – Trans-Pacific – from the Americas to Asia to Australia to the Middle East. The Houthis cutting the cables is not a reason to get US involved in fighting them
The America-First policy turns out that it needn’t require us to completely stay out of the war. It’s also fine if we refuse to provide our security services for free, unless we are paid for it, not merely in cash (where Saudi Arabia has some growing problems) but also in terms of policy. If a country undermines our geopolitical moves, as Riyadh has done, then we’d just say no to protecting them, and let them figure out the best way of securing their East-West pipeline (which stupidly was built overground)