Trump declines Saudi strike request as Yemen displacement rises
Houthi forces and Saudi-backed Yemeni government troops are fighting for control of the strategic Kahboub mountains on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, three weeks into an offensive that has routed government-aligned forces from much of western Yemen. The latest fighting has reportedly killed as many as 169 people over three days and displaced more than 100,000, pushing civilians to flee west across the Red Sea to Djibouti.
The offensive represents the most significant territorial gains in four years of Yemen’s civil war. Last week the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and other strategic cities, giving them control of the Bab al-Mandab strait, a chokepoint that carries 10% of global maritime traffic and has gained renewed importance after the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The offensive has upended global energy markets already reeling from the Hormuz closure and has further expanded the regional scope of the US-Iran war, now in its seventh month.
Houthi military officials said at least 118 people were killed in clashes as well as Saudi air and artillery strikes on the provinces of Taiz, al-Jawf, Marib and Saada since Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported. Yemeni government sources put their losses at at least 36 killed on the government side. The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of striking the port city of Mocha on Tuesday, killing six civilians including two children, and of striking a prison in al-Jawf province that the group said killed nine detainees. Houthi media separately showed fighters posing amid the wreckage of a Saudi F-15 fighter jet that the group claimed to have downed in the province of Marib.
The broader clashes since the campaign was launched have killed about 700 people and displaced more than 100,000, the Guardian reported, with some Yemenis fleeing the fighting via sea westwards across the Red Sea to Djibouti.
The renewed fighting comes after the Houthis launched strikes at the Saudi capital, Riyadh, over the weekend for the first time in years, prompting the Saudi government to issue an alert in the south of the country before potential counterstrikes. Saudi Arabia has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Yemen in recent days in an effort to halt the Houthi advance, with little success.
In recent days, clashes have focused on the strategic Kahboub mountains as the Houthis seek to consolidate their territorial gains. Government forces have been trying to hold the line against the Houthi advance on multiple fronts, particularly on the outskirts of Taiz province and the coastal area of Ras al-Ara, with the goal of preventing the Houthis from seizing the mountain range. Control of the mountains would give the Houthis a strategic vantage point over Red Sea coastal areas and would further cut off Aden, the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, from the western coast. Seizing the mountains would also complicate future government counterattacks. Houthi-aligned media have reported gains in the area, while government media said its fighters had successfully repelled Houthi incursions.
The prospect of an Iranian-aligned force controlling Bab al-Mandab has worried Saudi Arabia, which relies on the strait and the Strait of Hormuz for its energy exports.
US President Donald Trump reportedly considered striking the Houthis over the weekend but called off the operation at the last minute. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has asked Trump to authorize strikes against the group, a request Trump has thus far refused. Trump held a call on Monday with Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s governing body, who asked for US military assistance; Trump expressed solidarity but did not promise military support, according to a source cited by Agence France-Presse.
The United Kingdom said it would assist with aerial refuelling of Saudi aircraft engaged in defensive missions, leaving open the prospect of further international involvement. Members of the G7, in a joint statement released ahead of the UN General Assembly, called on Iran to stop arming the Houthis and urged the group to cease military actions, threats and attacks against civilian shipping. “We call on the Houthis to immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith,” the statement read.
The clashes have compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis. About 22 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance and 5.2 million are already internally displaced. Babar Baloch, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, said on Tuesday that displacement inside Yemen could rise to 230,000 people and that more than 10,000 could flee to Djibouti if fighting continued. Aid groups warn that conditions for those remaining in Yemen are deteriorating.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the country’s capital and toppled the government, drawing in a Saudi-led coalition that intervened with an aerial campaign on behalf of the internationally recognized government and allied militias. A UN-brokered ceasefire established in 2022 had largely held until the Houthis launched the current offensive.