A sustained Houthi offensive since early August has reopened questions that a United Nations-backed ceasefire had, for a time, deferred: whether Yemen's civil war can be contained, and at what cost if it cannot.
Yemen's Houthi movement, which is backed by Iran, launched strikes on al-Makha — a government-held Red Sea port city also known as Mocha — on August 9, killing at least seven people, four of them military personnel and three civilians, and wounding between 15 and 30 others. Port buildings, piers, and food supplies were severely damaged, France 24 reported.
That same day, the group claimed to have struck a Saudi Aramco refinery in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia with a drone. The Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed a fire at the facility but did not attribute the cause and reported no casualties, according to ABC News.
Attacks on al-Makha continued on August 10. A barrage that day killed at least 11 more people, Al Jazeera reported.
The campaign then moved offshore. On August 11–12, the Houthis struck the Egyptian-owned cargo vessel Tihamah with three ballistic missiles south of al-Makha in the Bab al-Mandeb strait — the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Four crew members died: three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian. A subsequent missile strike on rescuers killed at least two troops. Six people were killed in total and ten wounded, according to the BBC. It was the first deadly Houthi strike on a vessel since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February 2026, Al Jazeera reported.
On August 14, a further salvo — six ballistic missiles fired at al-Makha — killed at least four civilians, Yemen's government armed forces said. An unnamed military official told AFP that at least eight people were killed, including two security personnel. The conflicting figures could not be independently resolved, Al Jazeera reported.
The Houthi-run SABA news agency also reported on August 14 that the group had targeted an Aramco facility in Najran, Saudi Arabia, with a drone, describing it as retaliation for Saudi military aircraft entering Saada governorate airspace. Saudi authorities and Aramco had not confirmed the claim.
The truce that once contained all of this collapsed in July. A Saudi air strike on the runway of Sanaa airport on 13 July prevented an Iranian flight carrying a Houthi delegation from landing, ending the UN-backed ceasefire that had held since 2022. Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia's Abha Airport in July further threatened to reignite the broader conflict, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Yemen's civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis swept south from their northern stronghold, seized the capital Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognised government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year. The Houthis had previously targeted Red Sea shipping in protest at Israel's military campaign in Gaza, drawing US military retaliation. The current escalation is unfolding alongside heightened regional tensions following the US-Israel strikes on Iran that began in February 2026, in which the Houthis have become a significant front.
Yemen's recognised government said its forces had conducted retaliatory military operations against the Houthis in several areas, though the precise scope and targets were not confirmed. The long-term diplomatic or military response from Saudi Arabia, the United States, or the United Nations to the truce collapse has not been announced. For now, the harder questions — who re-establishes a ceasefire, on what terms, and who guarantees it — remain unanswered.
Comments (0)