While global attention has been focused in recent months on Hormuz, the battle over the Arabian Peninsula’s second chokepoint, Bab al-Mandab, is rapidly escalating. The intensifying war in Yemen and the heightened Houthi threat to shipping in the Red Sea no longer constitute a separate arena, but rather another front in the regional war with Iran. Saudi Arabia finds itself in an hour of crisis and extraordinary strategic predicament: Hormuz is disrupted to the east, the East-West pipeline has been damaged, the Houthis are attacking...
This interactive map tracks the conflict in Yemen from July 2026 onward. It is continuously updated and based on open-source intelligence (OSINT), including geolocated visual documentation, satellite imagery, statements by official and non-state actors, and reporting from regional and international media outlets. The map aims to illustrate and document military activity and the movement of front lines over time.
To survive in a hostile environment, the Houthi movement has had to learn and adapt from the start. The Zaydi revivalist youth movement of the early 1990s, the guerrilla force fighting government troops in Saada in 2004, and the semi-state that now rules most of Yemen’s population are three very different organizations. The group has changed in what it is, what it does, and how it reads its own interests. These changes have been driven by domestic upheaval and by shocks to its strategic environment: the Houthi seizure of Sanaa in...
The Houthi threat has evolved into a multidimensional challenge with direct implications for Israel and growing relevance for Somaliland. While the Houthis lack the capacity to defeat Israel militarily, they have demonstrated an ability to expand the geographic scope of confrontation, disrupt critical maritime routes in the Red Sea, and serve as a key instrument of Iran’s regional strategy. At the same time, emerging dynamics suggest increasing strain on Iran’s proxy network, potentially rendering actors such as the Houthis more...
Contrary to conventional expectations, the Houthis are demonstrating a notable reluctance to intervene in Tehran’s defense. While it remains plausible that the trajectory of the conflict involving Iran and subsequent geopolitical developments in the Gulf could elevate their strategic impetus to engage in hostilities, analysis suggests that – even in such an eventuality – their actions will be highly calculated. Guided by their core strategic interests, it is posited that they would exercise operational restraint to...
On October 19, 2023, just days after the outbreak of the Swords of Iron war, the Houthis in Yemen declared an additional front against Israel as part of their commitment to the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” and the concept of “unification of the arenas.” The Houthi militia, which is supported by Iran and controls large parts of Yemen, directly launched missiles and UAVs against Israel and imposed a naval blockade in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade. According to the IDF spokesperson, since October 2023, the Houthis have...
Recently, the Houthis have adopted a strategy aimed at exhausting the Israeli population, thereby increasing pressure on the Israeli government to halt its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. Given that Israel’s current approach to countering the Yemeni terrorist organization has been ineffective, it would be prudent to significantly intensify coalition and Israeli efforts against the group’s leadership, as well as its missile production and launch capabilities. Targeting Iran, however, would contradict American interests, risk...
The Red Sea region has drawn increasing attention in light of the Houthi attacks and the damage they have caused to the freedom of global shipping in general and to Israel in particular. This is in addition to the impact of other escalating conflicts in the region, in which Israel is not directly involved, such as those in Sudan and Somalia. The intensification of these conflicts highlights the recognition that only through multilateral, regional, and international cooperation can the relevant challenges in the Red Sea be addressed....
While attacks by the Houthis on Israel and civilian shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait continue to mark the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, China has been virtually silent, with no significant condemnation, and certainly no concrete action. China has also refrained from joining the US-initiated task force to protect navigation in the region, and its warships have failed to respond to distress calls from attacked ships. Beijing’s global pretensions collide with a low glass ceiling whenever they require any substantive...
Since the Hamas terror attack in the Negev on October 7 and the start of the war in Gaza, there have been escalating attacks by the Houthi terror organization, disrupting navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The stated aim of the organization, one of the most prominent Iranian proxies, is to harass and damage ships linked directly or indirectly to Israel, in response to Israel’s operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, most of the Houthi attacks so far have damaged ships that have no link to Israel. In view of the...
The Swords of Iron war between Israel and Hamas has assumed a new regional nature, with attacks by Iranian proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen. While Yemen is a secondary combat zone, the potential damage it could cause to Israel and the Gulf states, which have been accused by the Houthis of collaborating with Israel, could increase. If the Houthis continue to be involved in the fighting, Israel will be forced to find ways to deter them and respond to their aggression, which will make it hard for the Gulf states to maintain...
