The Houthis of Yemen, the armed movement allied with Iran, have advanced positions from the territory they controlled in the northwest of the country towards the Red Sea coast and are now threatening the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key maritime route that connects Asia and Europe passing through the Suez Canal. From these positions, they can cause more tensions in the context of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran war. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has celebrated the advance as a "divine triumph".

The Houthi rebels in Yemen took control this Thursday of Mocha, a strategic port on the Red Sea coast, and have advanced along the country's western maritime facade until reaching one of the most sensitive points in world trade: the Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to Yemeni military sources cited by Reuters. The strait, located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and is a key route for international trade and the transport of hydrocarbons. Control of the strait – or the ability of the Houthis, allies of Iran, to turn it into a high-risk zone for navigation – could add a new source of tension to an energy market already heavily conditioned by the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran, which began on February 28, and by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.

Yemen's Houthis have taken a month to come out in defense of their ally, Iran, in a key week of the United States and Israel war. The Shiite militia has entered the war cautiously: it has attacked Israel, but not US bases, nor Saudi refineries, nor the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, which gives access to the Red Sea. A closure of this passage, while Iran blocks the passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea, would further strangle the global economy. The Houthis have warned that, if necessary, they are willing to play this card, and just the threat has already caused many ships to turn back. 

In the Socotra archipelago, all the flags of Yemen, the country to which it officially belongs, have disappeared. At the entrances of official buildings, on the uniforms of police officers and soldiers, on car decals, and even at the country's main football stadium, the national flag has been replaced by one featuring a triangular stripe of light blue with a red star in the center. This is the flag of South Yemen, the former socialist republic that existed between 1967 and 1990, during the period between British decolonization and the country's unification. The civil war that erupted in 2015, and which continues at a low intensity, has fragmented Yemen into three governments. With the support or instigation of the United Arab Emirates, the government that controls the south is pursuing a process of independence to return to the pre-1990 borders.

A Houthi attack in the Red Sea sank a Liberian-flagged cargo ship owned by a Greek shipowner and bound for Israel on Wednesday morning, killing at least four sailors, according to maritime authorities, while rescue efforts continue to find 15 missing people. So far, six crew members have been rescued alive.Eternity C, who had spent more than 24 hours in the water, and who have been detained by the militia. The Houthis said they attacked the boat with 45 hypersonic and ballistic missiles, maritime and aerial drones, and speedboats, in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza, to prevent it from reaching an Israeli port. Since the Israeli genocide began in the Strip, the Houthis They threatened commercial vessels in the Red Sea destined for Israel and also attacked Tel Aviv. This Thursday, pro-Iranian militias also launched two missiles at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main airport, which were intercepted by air defenses.

A US bombing raid in Yemen killed 68 African migrants held at a detention center run by the UN International Organization for Migration and the Red Cross in the western city of Sa'ada early this morning and injured at least 47, Yemeni television reported. According to the Houthi Interior Ministry, there were 115 migrants in pretrial detention at the center, dozens of whom died trapped in the burning building. Images broadcast by Al Masirah television show dozens of bodies among the ruins of the detention center for African migrants who enter Yemeni territory illegally via the Djibouti-Yemen route, which connects Africa with the Persian Gulf countries. The same site was previously attacked by Saudi Arabian air forces in 2022 during its intervention in the civil war in the Arab world's poorest country.

A wave of US bombings has left at least 80 dead and 150 injured in the port of Ras Isa in Yemen, according to local media affiliated with the Houthi movement, which is threatening boat traffic through the Red Sea in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Among the victims are paramedics and rescue team members. The Israeli military command justified the attack by saying the port was a fuel and financial base for the Houthi movement, which is affiliated with Iran.

The United States has launched a wave of attacks against the Houthis in Yemen that has left at least 31 dead, according to local authorities. This is the most significant armed action since the start of Trump's second term, launching a large-scale air and sea offensive against the allies of Iran and Hamas.

Ali Jameel and his colleagues from the NGO Mwatana for Human Rights are risking their lives to document war crimes in Yemen, martyred by decades of conflict. After a bombing in a neighbourhood or a hospital, they quickly go to the area to collect the remains of the ammunition used and to interview the survivors. This is how, since Saudi Arabia's intervention began in 2015, they have gathered evidence of 177 aerial bombardments. In 29 cases they were able to prove that the Saudi coalition was dropping bombs made in the UK, Italy and Germany. And where are these bombs being dropped from? Well, also from planes made in Europe, including Spain. "Spain is an accomplice to war crimes for selling fighters and military ships to Saudi Arabia", denounces Jameel from Sana'a in a telephone conversation with ARA.