There is a strait south of the Red Sea that helps explain why the Houthis have ceased to be just an actor in the Yemen war: Bab el-Mandeb, the maritime passage that connects the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea and through which 12% of global trade passes. In recent weeks, the group, aligned with Iran, has advanced along the western coast of Yemen and has consolidated positions at strategic points in the strait. At the same time, has resumed attacks against Saudi Arabia and has announced a blockade against ships linked to the kingdom.Now, the Houthis have a position that allows them to threaten one of the main maritime routes between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. And they do so while the war between Iran and the United States has turned the Strait of Hormuz into the other major focus of maritime tension in the region.“The Houthis have a real capacity for pressure. They cannot indefinitely close traffic through the Red Sea, but they can certainly increase costs, generate uncertainty, and periodically interrupt commercial and energy flows,” explains Neil Quilliam to ARA, a researcher at the Middle East and North Africa program at the international analysis center Chatham House. According to the expert, they do not need to close the strait: it is enough for them to increase the risk.If sailing through the Red Sea is too expensive or unsafe, companies can divert ships around the Cape of Good Hope, on the Atlantic coast of South Africa, with more days of navigation and higher costs. Thus, Tehran and its allies can exert pressure from two different points on two key routes for global trade and energy.The Houthis, who officially call themselves Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), are part of the so-called "axis of resistance," the network of armed and political actors linked to Iran, and they receive military and technological support from Tehran. A 2024 UN report documents transfers of military material, assistance, and training linked to Iran and other actors in the axis to the Zaydi Shia group. Although Iran denies supplying weapons to the group and claims its support is only political, the Houthis have gone from being a local militia in northern Yemen to possessing about 350,000 fighters and a significant arsenal of missiles, drones, and anti-ship weapons.The role of the Houthis in the US-Iran confrontation

Various reports from the analysis centers Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Chatham House point out that the Houthis can now act as a negotiation instrument for Iran before Washington, in a war that has already been going on for seven months. But this does not mean that Tehran controls the group's decisions. The movement has a command structure, territorial interests, and its own political agenda. Control of the coast, in fact, responds to its own interests: it gives them more capacity to pressure Saudi Arabia, strengthens their position ahead of future negotiations regarding Yemen, and expands their control over the oil and gas in the areas they dominate.

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The Houthis of Yemen have claimed responsibility this weekend for missile and drone attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia, which reportedly include “sensitive sites” in the capital, Riyadh, and facilities of the oil company Aramco in the port of Yanbu, on the Red Sea. The episode marks a qualitative leap in the escalation because, for the first time since the start of the new phase of hostilities in July, the Houthis have brought the threat directly to the political and economic heart of the kingdom.

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The Houthis have once again attacked targets in Saudi Arabia this Tuesday, in a new escalation that comes after the group took control of several strategic points on the Yemeni coast of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The missile and drone attacks, which threaten to further extend the conflict throughout the region, have triggered air defense alerts in six Saudi cities, including Yanbu, the country's main oil port on the Red Sea, and Riyadh has warned that it will respond "firmly," adopting "all necessary operational measures."

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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.

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The Houthis have once again opened a new front in the war between the United States and Iran. The Yemeni group has claimed a missile and drone attack against two Saudi oil tankers sailing in the Red Sea, in compliance with the threat issued days earlier to impose a maritime blockade against ships linked to Saudi Arabia crossing the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The attack has caused several oil tankers to alter their route, shipping companies to review their plans, and increased concern about a new disruption of world trade on one of the planet's most strategic maritime routes.

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The Houthi movement in Yemen announced on Monday a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, expanding the war in the Middle East and adding instability to global hydrocarbon trade. The Iran-linked armed group stated in a communiqué that it declares "a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the eye-for-an-eye equation, with immediate effect," in response to what it described as an "unjust and oppressive siege" imposed by Riyadh on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

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The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has intensified even further In the last hours of this Sunday, with aerial and ground bombardments punishing Gaza City and the surrounding areas, while the civilian population faces a humanitarian and food crisis of extreme gravityAccording to information provided by Al Jazeera, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health has stated that the number of victims of famine has now reached 289, of which 115 are children, a figure that reflects the worsening of an already desperate situation. Israel, for its part, continues to deny both the figures and the lack of food, calling it "pro-Palestinian propaganda" and saying that Hamas is withholding the aid.

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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.

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The scandal uncovered by the magazine's editor-in-chief The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly included in a Signal chat The incident, in which top US defense and intelligence officials revealed their war plans against the Houthis in Yemen, represents a shocking mockery of the Trump administration, exposing multiple security lapses and revealing an unprofessional and highly dangerous approach. Even more troubling is that, 72 hours later, no resignations or dismissals have yet occurred.

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