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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/21\/world\/middleeast\/yemen-houthis-saudi-war.html?emc=edit_nn_20260922&nl=the-morning&segment_id=226865",
    "parsed_content": "War\u00a0in the Middle EastHouthi-Saudi\u00a0ConflictIran\u2019s Isolation GrowsDiplomacy StallsInside the Conflict in LebanonTimeline of WarAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTWhy the Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia Are Back at WarThe conflict has opened a second front in the Middle East after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, adding to global uncertainty and turmoil in energy markets.Listen \u00b7 8:40 min Share full articleA still image taken from AFPTV video footage of Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces firing at Houthi positions in Yemen this month. Credit...AFPTV, via Agence France-Presse \u2013 Getty ImagesBy Vivian Nereim and Ismaeel NaarVivian Nereim reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Ismaeel Naar from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Sept. 21, 2026See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google After four years of relative peace, Yemen has spiraled back into full-blown war.In a lightning offensive, the Iran-backed Houthi militia has seized control of the country\u2019s Red Sea coastline in recent weeks. The group is now engaged in fierce clashes with Saudi-backed, Yemeni government forces on multiple fronts, and cross-border attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia have escalated.The war has opened a second front in a Middle East conflict that began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February, adding to regional volatility, sending energy prices soaring even farther and darkening the shadow over the global economy.\n \n \n \nIRAN\nSuez Canal\nStrait of\nHormuz\nEffectively\nclosed\nOil\nSAUDI\nARABIA\nRed \nSea\nEGYPT\nEast-West pipeline\nHouthi\nstronghold\nOMAN\nOil\nSUDAN\nYEMEN\nPerim island\nBab al-Mandab Strait\nHouthis gaining control\nSOMALIA\n \n Sources: Global Energy Monitor (pipelines); Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute (Houthi-controlled areas)Samuel Granados\/The New York TimesA year ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, the country\u2019s de facto ruler, and President Trump signed a strategic defense agreement. The Saudi leader has repeatedly asked Mr. Trump to intervene militarily against the Houthis, part of the so-called axis of resistance led by Iran, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTBut Mr. Trump has wavered. He initially rebuffed the Saudi requests, then, over the weekend, told the Pentagon to prepare airstrikes, only to reverse course and decide to hold off, according to Trump administration officials.Here is how the war restarted, why the Houthis were able to gain ground so quickly, and what the renewed fighting means for anyone with a stake in the conflict.How did the war reignite?Yemen was plunged into civil war in 2014, when the Houthis, Shiite Muslims who describe themselves as an anti-imperialist force battling foreign influence, swept into the capital, Sanaa, and pushed out the internationally recognized government. Soon after, a Saudi-led military coalition, backing the government, began a bombing campaign, plunging the impoverished nation into a devastating conflict.The two sides agreed to a fragile truce in 2022, but that has unraveled in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIn July, the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing Sanaa\u2019s airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. The group also balked at longstanding restrictions imposed on Yemeni airspace and declared a naval blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, obstructing a route that the Saudi government relied on to export oil after Iran stymied shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.ImageThe funeral of a Houthi fighter in Sanaa, Yemen, this month.Credit...Mohammed Huwais\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty ImagesA major turning point in the Houthi advance occurred this month, when Houthi forces captured Mokha, a strategic Red Sea port, and Perim Island, located in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow waterway that is a crucial route for global trade. Control of the territories put the group in a stronger position to attack passing ships.Want to stay updated on what\u2019s happening in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen? Sign up for Your Places: Global Update, and we\u2019ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.Last week, the group sharply escalated its attacks on Saudi Arabia, launching missiles and drones at the capital, Riyadh. The Houthis described the attacks as retaliation against hundreds of Saudi airstrikes and other attacks in Yemen over recent weeks. Saudi officials have neither addressed those allegations, nor acknowledged a Houthi claim to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet.What do the Houthis and Iran want?When the truce was reached four years ago, the Houthis said they had won the war and entrenched their rule over northern Yemen. But since then, the economic situation in areas under their control has worsened, spurring civilian resentment and putting political pressure on the group.The Houthis blame Saudi Arabia\u2019s interventions for the suffering in their territory, analysts say. In recent months, the group has demanded that restrictions on planes and ships entering Houthi territory be lifted, including U.N. inspections. The militia has also insisted that Saudi Arabia pay war reparations and fully withdraw from Yemen \u2014 meaning the end of Saudi support for the internationally recognized government.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cThe Houthis have no incentive to de-escalate,\u201d said Ibrahim Jalal, a Yemeni researcher and policy adviser. He added that Houthi leaders hope that maintaining pressure on Saudi Arabia will lead to more political concessions and add to their authority.ImageA commercial ship floats off the coast of Yemen in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key trade route at the southern end of the Red Sea, this month. Credit...Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty ImagesIran has also played a key role in the militia\u2019s push, according to Baraa Shiban, a researcher on Yemen and the Gulf at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based research organization.The Houthis are an Iranian ally, rather than a complete proxy. The group balances its relations with Iran alongside its own calculations.But if the Houthis are able to further disrupt the global economy and increase pressure on U.S. gas prices, that would give Iran more leverage over Mr. Trump, Mr. Shiban added. Iran is counting on escalation in Yemen to drag the United States deeper into the regional war and \u201cput more pressure on the Trump administration,\u201d he said.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTHow did the Houthis advance so quickly?The Saudi-backed government of Yemen is the main bulwark against the Houthis, and nominally controls a swath of southern and eastern Yemen.But throughout the civil war, the government has become weaker and more fragmented. Today, it is effectively a motley coalition of armed groups, overseen by a \u201cPresidential Leadership Council\u201d of eight men. Many of them distrust one another and have competing political goals, although they share a desire to defeat the Houthis.They are also beholden to Saudi Arabia, which supports the government financially and militarily, and the kingdom leaves little space for its Yemeni allies to make their own decisions.By contrast, the Houthis have more authority to act independently of Iran. They still rely on Iran for the most sophisticated drones and ballistic missiles, but they have been able to use artificial intelligence and other tools to make advanced weaponry themselves and developed their own supply chains to do so, analysts say.ImagePeople receive aid in a refugee camp in Djibouti after fleeing fighting between Houthi fighters and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.Credit...Abdourahim Arteh\/ReutersAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cThe Saudis are used to treating their Yemeni partners as clients, like hired help. They pay them, but they give them no agency,\u201d said Abdulghani al-Iryani, a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, a research group.During the past few months, as the Houthis stepped up attacks against Saudi interests, some Yemeni government officials have described an opportunity opening up for a counteroffensive against the militia. The Saudi government tried to unite the factions in Yemen and stepped up military support.But the first test of those efforts \u2014 the battle for Mokha and the Bab al-Mandab Strait \u2014 was an abject failure, analysts say. The different forces on the government side struggled to effectively coordinate with one another while the Houthis were unified under a highly centralized leadership.What will Saudi Arabia do next?Saudi officials have revealed little about their plans, even as they have repeatedly sought more military support from the United States. While the Trump administration has so far withheld this backing, Andy Burnham, the prime minister of Britain, said on Monday that the Royal Air Force would provide air-to-air refueling support for Saudi aircraft for a limited number of weeks, The Associated Press and BBC reported.The kingdom has many reasons to be reluctant to return to war. Its previous bombing campaign in Yemen turned into a costly quagmire that contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis from violence, hunger and disease. Diplomacy has also failed to definitively end the conflict.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTBut increasingly, some Saudi officials believe that they have no choice but to confront the militia, analysts say.\u201cThe Saudis have a growing kind of belief that peace with the Houthis is impossible,\u201d said Farea Al-Muslimi, a Yemen specialist at Chatham House, a London-based research group. \u201cThey try to buy them, they try to bomb them, they try to fight them, they try to visit them, they try to invite them. None of this has worked.\u201dEven as some observers hope that the conflict can be resolved quickly, Mr. Al-Muslimi fears the worst.\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who are excited for it or think that this will be a quick and fast war, but I have heard that line about almost every war in Yemen,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is going to be a bloody, horrible war.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-21T15:05:38+00:00",
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    "ai_headline": "Why the Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia Are Back at War",
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