Iran war: Saudi-Houthi escalation intensifies Yemen conflict

Fighting between the Houthi militia and Yemen's internationally recognized government escalated further this week as the Iran-backed group seized territory and exchanged missile and drone attacks with Saudi Arabia.

On Thursday, the Houthis seized the port city of Mokha and by Friday had taken control of the town of Dhubab and the island of Perim, Yemeni government sources told the news agency Reuters. Mokha, Dhubab and Perim had been held by forces aligned with Yemen's government. All three are strategically located near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

With Iran having blockaded the nearby Strait of Hormuz , the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait has become increasingly important as an alternative route for Saudi oil exports. As the Houthis are aligned with Iran, control of and potential attacks on shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait gives Iran additional leverage in its war with the United States.

The government-aligned National Resistance Forces announced on Thursday that troops were reorganizing and consolidating their defenses in Mokha in coordination with other anti-Houthi forces.

The conflict has also spilled into Saudi Arabia, a close US ally and regional rival of Iran's. This week, the Houthis launched dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at four cities in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis said Saudi Arabia responded with dozens of airstrikes across four Yemeni provinces.

"This is actually a full-scale war," Farea Al-Muslimi, a Yemen researcher at the London-based think tank Chatham House, told DW. "It hasn't been given that name yet but we are marching there full time," Al-Muslimi said.

The latest escalation, which started in July, ended a period of relative calm after years of war. A Saudi-led coalition intervened to support Yemen's government in 2015 following the 2014 Houthi insurgency. The war between the Houthis — which the United States redesignated as a foreign terrorist organization in March 2025 — and the Saudi-backed government ended in 2022 with a UN-brokered truce. However, the country remains de facto split.

The Houthis control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and most of the country's north, as well as parts of the center, and now also much of the western coastal stretch, including Mokha, Dhubab and Perim. The internationally recognized government, represented by the Presidential Leadership Council, is based in Aden. Many senior officials operate from Saudi Arabia. Government-aligned forces control parts of the south and east, while tribal groups retain significant influence in parts of the east.