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Yemen

Yemen's Houthis launch drone and missile attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia

Houthi forces conducted multiple attacks including drone launches toward Israel and a ballistic missile toward Saudi Arabia, with Israeli air defenses intercepting aerial targets over Eilat. Iranian and Houthi leadership threatened new military operations and a broader regional security corridor against Israel.

Why it matters

The Houthis have repeatedly disrupted Red Sea shipping since 2023 in solidarity with Gaza and Iran's 'Axis of Resistance,' and their renewed campaign threatens to reopen a key maritime chokehold and broaden the regional conflict. A return to Houthi missile and drone fire—tied explicitly to the latest Israel-Iran-Lebanon escalation—signals the fragility of recent ceasefires and the risk of a wider war.

Sources

Country basics

Population
40.6M
Capital
Sana'a
GDP
$21.6B
Currency
YER
Head of state
Rashad al-Alimi
Government
republic

Yemen occupies a strategically vital position on the southern Arabian Peninsula, commanding the Bab-el-Mandeb strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the broader Indian Ocean shipping lanes. Since 2014–2015 the country has been fractured by civil war between the internationally recognized government—now led through a Presidential Leadership Council headed by Rashad al-Alimi and backed by a Saudi-led coalition—and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls Sana'a and much of the north. This conflict is a central front in the broader Saudi-Iranian rivalry, and Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping have drawn international military responses. Readers should track the fragile UN-brokered truce efforts, north-south divisions including southern separatist currents, and the persistent humanitarian crisis.

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