Houthi Red Sea Offensive Triggers Saudi-led Counter-offensive
Tens of thousands of civilians face fresh displacement in Yemen as Houthi forces push toward the Red Sea coast, triggering a large-scale military counter-offensive by the internationally recognized government and its Saudi-led coalition backers. The fighting threatens vital maritime trade routes through the Bab al-Mandeb strait and deepens a humanitarian crisis that has fragmented the country for more than a decade.
Ten Years of Fragmented Control Across Yemen
The Iran-allied group used antigovernment grievances to gain support after July 2014 fuel subsidy cuts triggered anger. The Houthis mobilized protests demanding the reversal of the government’s decisions, and subsequently its resignation, while allying with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to capture military positions and state institutions.
Then-Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to Aden in February 2015. When forces aligned with the Houthis and Saleh advanced toward the southern port city, Hadi took refuge in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention to restore his internationally recognized government.
Daily Sabah notes that the civil war erupted amid competing political and strategic interests pursued by Iran and Saudi Arabia after the Arab uprisings. While both sides instrumentalize their respective belief systems, the conflict is fundamentally a political one rather than a purely sectarian crisis between Shiite and Sunni communities. The Houthis embrace a political ideology similar to Iran’s and Hezbollah’s, centered around anti-imperialism, anti-Zionism, and Third Worldism.
Shifting Alliances and Rival Zones of Control
By late 2016, two years after the Houthis seized Sanaa, Yemen was split into rival zones of control.
The antigovernment alliance suffered a major fracture in December 2017 after Saleh appeared close to switching sides. Following a short outbreak of fighting in Sanaa, the Houthis killed the former president. This left the Houthis in sole charge of much of northwestern Yemen, including Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
By March 2019, the Houthis continued to hold the northwestern highlands, while government-aligned forces held extensive territory across the south and east. The December 2018 Stockholm Agreement had halted a pro-government offensive against Hodeidah, a major entry point for food, fuel, and aid, leaving neither side with a decisive victory.
The Rise of Southern Separatists and International Confrontation
The United Arab Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seized Aden in 2019, held territory separately from government forces. Despite officially being part of the anti-Houthi coalition, the STC fought the government several times.
By March 2025, the Houthis had held Sanaa and the northwest continuously for over a decade. Houthi attacks on shipping, launched in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, drew retaliatory strikes from Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Yemen’s coastline and the Bab al-Mandeb strait became central to a confrontation reaching far beyond the country’s borders.
In January 2026, government forces temporarily regained Hadramout and al-Mahra from the STC. Saudi air attacks and a government advance fractured the STC’s leadership, leading to the nominal dissolution of the group and the flight of its leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, from the country.
Recent Red Sea Offensives and Displacement Crises
Early in September 2026, the Houthis launched a rapid and unexpected offensive along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. They captured the strategically important port of Mocha and pushed south toward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, gaining roughly 150 kilometers of coastline and threatening the southern entrance to the Red Sea, according to The Jerusalem Post. The offensive turned Bab al-Mandeb into a second maritime pressure point in Iran’s conflict with the United States.
The escalation triggered massive displacement.
PLC Chairman Rashad al-Alimi called for a general mobilization and offered amnesty to defecting Houthi fighters. Seeking to restore maritime traffic and defend its southern frontier, Saudi Arabia backed a major counter-offensive dubbed Operation Dawn of Yemen, launched on October 5.
The Ongoing October 2026 Escalation
The internationally recognized government claimed to have recaptured positions around Dhubab and Bab al-Mandeb following the launch of Operation Dawn of Yemen, though the full extent of government gains on the coast remained unconfirmed. Fighting also spread to Marib, where government forces claimed heights around the Maas camp.
At the same time, the government lost territory in Taiz governorate, resulting in a siege on the city of Taiz. The major road linking Taiz to the south remained under Houthi control.
Saudi-led coalition air attacks increased, hitting targets in Sanaa. In response, the Houthis launched repeated ballistic missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, including an October 10 strike on Riyadh’s airport that killed 13 people.
As military operations continue across multiple fronts, the ability of the Presidential Leadership Council to unify anti-Houthi formations under a single command remains incomplete. The full scope of territorial control along the contested Red Sea coast remains fluid, and millions of Yemenis continue to bear the cost of a decade of unresolved political and military conflict.